Wine Cups Flower Is a Beauty for Dry Gardens

Virtues: Wine cups is an award-winning perennial wildflower recommended for xeric (dry) gardens thanks to its tolerance of drought and heat. It blooms all summer with vivid pink flowers that feed the bees. It can make a nice low edging, a component of a meadow garden or a pretty companion to ornamental grasses.

Common name: Wine cups, poppy mallow

Botanical name:Callirhoe involucrata

Exposure: Full sun

Season: Summer, for flowers

Flowers: Cuplike, hot pink flowers rise on slim but sturdy stems above the foliage throughout summer.

Foliage: Small, dark gray-green leaves with deep lobes.

Habit: A perennial plant that forms a mat 5 to 10 inches tall and 2 to 3 feet wide. It dies back in winter.

Origins: Open woods and rocky slopes throughout much of the middle and western portions of the United States.

How to grow wine cups: Site this perennial in full sun and any kind of soil with good drainage. It is highly tolerant of drought once it is established. It may self-seed as well as slowly spread by its sprawling stems, but it is not considered aggressive. Deadhead the flowers to prolong the bloom. USDA Zones 4–9.

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