Taken during a recent visit to the Botanic Garden – a red Hollyhock, a.k.a. Alcea.
From Wikipedia – Alcea:
Hollyhocks are popular garden ornamental plants. The flowers have been selected for variations in color, with dark purple, red and white-flowered plants available in addition to the colors found in wild plants.
Hollyhocks are very drought resistant, and do well in full sun locations that might be too hot or dry for other plants. They produce large, flat coin-shaped seeds (1/2″ diameter) that seem to grow easily wherever they drop. While an individual plant might only live a handful of years, by that time chances are good it will leave plenty of descendants. They have very long taproots which make transplanting difficult.