Top Photo: Pink Hibiscus in wetlands.

Hibiscus is in bloom in the wetlands. The large, pink, white or brilliant red flowers with five petals and long staminal tube with style, stamens and pistils exposed for all to see are well known to many. Its great, spectacular flowers grace wetland and woods.

The wild variety has been called rose mallow, marsh mallow, swamp rose mallow, crimson-eyed rose-mallow and many other similar names, even wild cotton. It is most often encountered as a shrubby plant near water. But no matter where you come across the plant, the flowers will make you gasp.

Happily, they bloom over a long period, so you don’t have to rush down to the wetlands to see them, but I wouldn’t wait too long.