Hibiscus x Lord Baltimore (Rose Mallow)

'Lord Baltimore' is an upright hybrid Hibiscus cultivar that grows to about 4-5' tall and 2-3' wide with both showy flowers and unique foliage. Noted for its attractive, dinner plate-sized, tropical-looking flowers, 'Lord Baltimore' produces vibrant, eye-catching pure red flowers with a small white center from mid summer to early fall. In addition to its eye-catching blooms, the 'Lord Baltimore' cultivar's foliage takes after its halberd-leaf hibiscus (H. laevis) lineage, and produces fine, jagged-lobed leaves that add airiness and visual appeal to the upright shrub-like appearance.

An excellent choice for adding upright appeal to the home landscape, this cultivar is an excellent choice for filling out border or hedge plantings as well as in wetland brestoration projects, rain gardens, and showy specimen plantings for pollinators. Although typically native to swamps, many hibiscus cultivars will also do very well in the home garden if kept consistently moist. For best performance, be sure to provide your 'Lord Baltimore' with full sun to partial shade; this cultivar is additionally not at all picky about soil consistency or quality.

Though 'Lord Baltimore' is a hybrid rose mallow cultivar, its lineage is derived from Hibiscus mosecheutos and Hibiscus laevis (both native to Maryland) as well as Hibiscus coccineus (native to the American southeast as far north as Virginia).