Alcea rosea is a favourite cottage-garden flower, providing unusually tall spires of open trumpet shaped flowers in every shade from white, through
yellows, orange and pinks, to maroon, with a conspicuous pollen-covered stigma, arising from a basal clump of large, rough leaves. There are also
double-flowered varieties available, with large pom-pom flowers in similar colours, or with picotee blooms. Although traditionally tall plants, up to 6 or 7 feet, new varieties have also been bred to provide shorter spikes, with flowers in the first year, which are more suitable for modern smaller gardens.