Widely grown as an ornamental plant for its attractive and slightly scented flowers, the musk mallow blooms throughout the summer.
Several cultivars have been selected for variation in flower colour, including the one shown here from my garden, ‘Rosea’, with its dark pink flowers. The cultivar ‘Alba’ (white flowered) earned the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.
Though not native to North America, (more Eastern European/Central Asia), I consider it an heirloom plant because it’s been in cultivation for a long time, as you can see from the hand-coloured botanical engraving below from the 1700’s.
Pretty colour, lovely scent, drought tolerant, and the bees love them… The musk mallow ticks all the right boxes when I’m choosing flowers for my garden! 🙂
Wall Flower Studio 
Karen, I have always thought this plant was called Lavatera.is that another name for it?
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Hi Sue, Great question! They’re cousins under the same Malva family, Here’s a link so you can see the differences between the flowers. Lavatera are a gorgeous member of that family. Flowers are much bigger, and I’m not entirely sure they’re hardy in my neck of the woods. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavatera
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