GREG GRANTTexas A&M AgriLife Extension Service

Plants native to the South that were tough, pretty and easy to propagate quickly became a part of our ancestors’ landscaping palette. One such example is the Turk’s cap.

In an 1891 copy of a Pearfield Nurseries catalog from Frelsburg, they list it by its botanical name and state “Malvaviscus drummondii — A native of Texas, producing during summer a profusion of scarlet flowers. 40 cents each.” It doesn’t just produce a profusion of small twisted turban-like flowers, but a multitude of hummingbirds, sulfur butterflies and small red-orange fruit as well.

I’ve always considered the miniature tomato-looking fruit palatable, but some might disagree. A 1933 Otto M. Locke Nursery catalog from New Braunfels is on my side, however. It advertises “Malvaviscus drummondii. This has large broad leaves … and produces a small fruit which some people call Mexican Apples. The fruit is sweet and edible. 10c each, $1.00 per dozen.”

Locke’s Nursery once laid claim to the oldest nursery in Texas, having started in 1856. Unfortunately when the last Mr. Locke died in 1994, the nursery died with him. It was famous for its animal menagerie, including a prairie dog “town,” and for supplying the U.S. with most of its tuberose bulbs. I had the fortunate experience of getting to meet Mr. Locke when I was the Bexar County horticulturist in nearby San Antonio. On one visit he told me some man tried to buy the property from him for $1 million, but he wouldn’t sell it to him because the buyer planned to do away with the nursery. Mr. Locke’s dad and granddad had owned and operated that nursery and he couldn’t bear the thought of it not being there. Unfortunately the property was immediately adjacent to the interstate in a rapidly growing area. Luckily, Turk’s cap still grows up and down the nearby Comal and Guadalupe rivers.

My first experience with Turk’s cap was around the back steps of my friend’s house in Longview. His family rented the home from their next-door neighbors. I would sit on the back steps waiting for him, watching the hummingbirds visit the flowers as I nibbled on the small, sweet fruit. The landlord later became my sweetest and dearest friend on earth. She loved flowers (and me!) and Turk’s cap was just one of her many treasures. People are like plants. They are mostly all good. You just have to know them and appreciate what’s good about them.

In addition to the typical red, Turk’s cap is also more rarely available in white, a coral pink I introduced as Pam Puryear and a larger-growing flowered hybrid I introduced as Big Momma.

Greg Grant is the Smith County horticulturist for the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. He is co-author of “Heirloom Gardening in the South.” You can read his Greg’s Ramblings blog at arborgate.com or read his In Greg’s Garden in each issue of Texas Gardener magazine (texasgardener.com). More science-based gardening information from the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service can be found at aggie-horticulture. tamu.edu.