Malva Mystic Merlin

Tall sturdy spikes at 1.2 to 1.5m, loaded with silky saucers in deep violet-purple veined with darker maroon. The colour shifts about depending on temperature and soil, running between indigo-purple and richer magenta, so the plant looks slightly different from week to week.

It is the sensible alternative to a hollyhock. You get the same height, the same architectural spike against a wall, and none of the rust that makes hollyhocks a two-year battle. It is a short-lived perennial, three or four years, gaining size each season.

The dark colour needs company. On its own at the back of a border it reads as a shadow; put it against gold or orange, rudbeckia or a warm calendula, and the complementary contrast is about as strong as cottage planting gets. Flowers and young leaves are edible. The midsummer chop applies here too: cut it back by half when the first flush tires, or the plant goes woody and unproductive for the rest of the season. It self-seeds prolifically, and the seedlings will not all come back this dark.