vervain mallow, Malva alcea

This particularly pretty vervain mallow caught my eye near the Lake Superior shore and Porcupine Hill. Yeah, I know most call that a mountain, but once you've seen the Rockies it's a hill. Anyway, the only other time I've seen vervain mallow wild was twenty-eight years earlier on a roadside here in Adrian, fifteen miles from the Ohio border. That kind of distance between sightings seems to be typical of this occasional escape from our gardens. And it may not persist long, judging by the local plants that had disappeared within a couple years. Vervain mallow has been recorded from CT, IN, MA, ME, MI, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, VT, WI, NB, NS, ON, QC, and SK. Ontonagon Co MI, 7/11/11. Mallow family, Malvaceae.