MEEHANS’ MALLOW MARVELS 
Few new plants introduced in recent years have created as great a sensa¬ 
tion as Meehans’ Mallow Marvels. 
It is the ambition of all horticulturalists to produce something that 
excels, something larger and better than has been grown before, but it can 
only be accomplished by those who have a great amount of patience, as 
the process is slow and more frequently ends in disappointment rather than 
success. 
Several years ago, the late Thomas Meehan suggested the possibility of 
hybridizing the southern crimson-flowered mallow, which is not hardy in the 
North, with the white-flowered swamp mallow so common in New Jersey, 
and his suggestion was followed out. 
Out of the first lot of seedlings produced by this cross-breeding, one 
seedling bore a dazzling brilliant scarlet flower. The plant was left out all 
winter without protection and the original plant is still growing in the 
nursery. 
The flowers of this one plant were again hybridized as before, and again 
the seedlings from this plant produced a number of seedlings with various 
colored flowers. The best of these were saved and recrossed. This process 
was continued from year to year for some five or six years until a perma¬ 
nent strain of plants, some with crimson, some with red, and some with 
pink flowers, was produced. The beauty of these flowers can scarcely be 
described and even the colored plate fails to properly show their great beauty. 
Single plants set out on the lawn, in the garden, or among shrubbery beds, 
will create wide attention, but the greatest sensation is made when a number 
of plants of mixed colors are set in a bed by themselves. 
Plants have been sent to various sections of the country and their hardi¬ 
ness fully proven. From Maine to California, from Canada to the far 
South. They thrive in every section. 
They will grow and bloom in any soil, but do best in a rich, moist soil. 
They like plenty of water, but they should not be planted in a swamp where 
the water lies around the roots. 
Flowers produced on plants which are in the most thrifty condition will 
measure twelve inches in diameter. They commence to bloom about the 
first of August and continue with a succession of flowers until frost. 
The plants are of herbaceous character, dying to the ground every fall, 
but sprouting up again the following spring, stronger than ever. In rich 
soil, with plenty of moisture, a three-year-old plant will produce stems six to 
eight feet in height in one year. 
