As soon as Stacy and Ross Turner met with the "Confederate Rose," it became their passion. Of course, they started by researching the plant for many years and then decided to do a business out of growing them. It started simply as a hobby and grew to be a huge business venture in South Carolina.
"One of the first things we learned was that it is not a rose at all, although the plant is called Confederate Rose or 'Confederate Rose Mallow,'" said Stacy.
"We searched anything we could find and listened to anything anyone could tell us about this beautiful, mysterious flower. After about ten years spent researching, we finally mastered the history of the so-called 'Confederate Rose.' We then took the plant on as a hobby, planting and selling these lovely flowers that are also referred to sometimes as the 'Cotton Rose.'"
One story about the origins of the flower's name was that a man from Florida brought the plant over from Brazil. Sales of the bloom did not go very well until he changed the name to Confederate Rose, and instantly his sales soared to the roof.
This flower tends to be shrubby and usually grows in the south.