Recommended for your garden in the south of Spain: Abelmoschus moschatus

Native to Asia and Australia, Abelmoschus moschatus is a perennial sub-shrub and member of the Malvaceae family (mallow). Although a tropical plant it is cold hardy and will even survive some frost due to its long taproot.

Common names include musk mallow, annual hibiscus and musk okra. It is easy to grow from seed and will form a compact, bushy shrub up to a metre tall. Musk mallow is very decorative with large, hibiscus-like flowers in shades of yellow, pink, red and orange which only last for one day but the flowering period will continue from late spring right through until the winter. The paler colours tend to have a purple throat while the deeper tones sometimes have flowers with white centres.

After flowering, long seed pods resembling okra develop (hence the common name musk okra). The aromatic seeds have a sweet, heavy fragrance similar to musk and the extracted essential oils were once used as an animal musk substitute commercially although now cheaper, synthetic musk is used. Indigenous people wore them threaded together as arm bracelets and chewed the seeds to sweeten the breath, relieve stomach disorders, toothache etc. They can be toasted and added to coffee to add aroma and also ground and used to flavour cakes and icecream, liqueurs and other drinks.

The unripe seed pods, leaves and shoots are cooked and eaten as a vegetable. The slightly hairy, dark-green leaves are divided into between three and seven lobes each. They are used in Ayurvedic medicine to treat gonorrhea, rheumatism and as a poultice for severe headaches.

Musk mallow is easy to propagate from seed and, in cold regions, is grown as an annual. It can, however, survive mild winters with little die-back but may become woody. Pruning hard in late winter will promote lots of new growth from the base and prolific flowering.

Once established, musk mallow will relish the long, hot Mediterranean summer. Full sun will increase flowering however, although reasonably drought resistant, it will benefit from frequent watering.