A Turk's cap flower never opens. The scarlet petals stay furled into a tight twist like a small turban, the staminal column pushes out past the tip, and hummingbirds and butterflies work the flowers exactly as designed, hovering at the mouth of a bloom that stays closed on purpose. The habit gives the genus a common name and makes the plants unmistakable in a border.

Malvaviscus drummondii is the Gulf Coast and Texas native, a soft-wooded perennial shrub that dies back in a hard winter and comes roaring out of the ground again, blooming from summer until frost. Two virtues make the plant unusually useful: the flowers hold up in real shade, which almost no hummingbird plant does, and the whole clump tolerates dry ground under trees. 'Pam Puryear' opens soft pink and honors the Texas garden historian who found the plant; 'Big Momma' comes out of a cross with the taller tropical Malvaviscus arboreus and gains size fast. Cut them to the ground in late winter and stand back.