Sea Tree Mallow [Lavatera maritima]

At first I thought this was a variety of Hibiscus [Hibiscus syriacus] called a "Russian Violet". But on a recent trip to Home Depot my friend found a plant for sale that helped us identify this beauty. It is a Sea Tree Mallow [Lavatera maritima].

This is another shot from my last morning Basset walk in Monterey. I was wandering around looking for well backlit flowers. Which worked out well as long as they were in the same general direction of the good smells.

After spending all day yesterday rebuilding my system from a hard drive failure I am missing my vacation even more!