hollyhocks - fungus or bug?

I found this on my hollyhocks the other night. I'm not in that part of my yard very often so I just found it. Not sure what to use for it if anyone knows what works best.
Thanks,
Di

It's rust--many hollyhocks are very prone to it. Here are some tips on dealing with it http://www.finegardening.com/how-to/qa/dealing-hollyhock-rust.aspx The good news is it's unsightly but not fatal.

Yay, now I know what I can do to take care of this; it's been driving me nuts wondering about it. Thank you, ecrane, sossososososo much!!
Di

I have been digging all of my hollyhocks up and putting them in trash bags. It's all over my hh. They are blooming, but the rust looks so nasty.
If I did up all of my hollyhocks this year, will those that sprouted this year have the rust too? Do you ever get rid of it??

Hollyhocks are very prone to it, so unless you buy cultivars that are resistant to it you're liable to get it again even if you do a good job cleaning things up. There are some tips on dealing with it in the link I had posted previously--if you follow that advice you can reduce the problems you'll have with it, but if you have susceptible varieties it's hard to 100% avoid it (anything that's coming up from seed is likely to be susceptible--even if you had resistant varieties planted, that trait won't necessarily come true from seed, and since it sounds like your parent plants were susceptible it would be highly unlikely for the seedlings to be resistant)

I've been trying. I went to the link ecrane provided and followed the directions as far as getting rid of all debris around the plants, removing leaves and burning them, and then I drenched (I mean drenched!) them with a solution containing chlorothalonil. I even drenched the ground and my fence which they are against as well. I've been doing it every seven days so I've only done it a few times so far. I have pods (?) ready to open with blooms but if this is what it takes the rest of the summer to have hollyhocks I don't know that I'll mess with them again next year. No wonder you don't see them that often anymore.

Di

If you really want rust-free hollyhocks, best thing to do is search for rust resistant varieties--while it's still possible for them to get rust they're more resistant to it so your odds of avoiding problems are better. Also, the sprays and things tend to work better as a preventative vs doing it after the fact when the rust is already there, so next year if you get on top of things more quickly you may have better luck. Once the rust is already there it's a lot harder to get rid of (as you're discovering).

I had purchased hollyhocks many years ago from a garden center. These hollyhocks reseeded and I have had and enjoyed hollyhocks ever since. They were double etc. then evolved to singles and various colors, mostly reds and pinks. Then in the last few years, I noticed I had rust on my hh. It was probably there a year before I even noticed it. Then, it kept getting worse. This year, I am getting rid of all of my HH. I wonder if I keep getting rid of my seedlings (which may be a long time), if I will eventually be able to have HH again. I think it is in my soil. Also, even if I obtain rust resistant HH, will they be able to "resist" the rust.
In summary, I think I need to just destroy the HH that come up from seed for a couple of years, before I try to grow rust resistant HH.
What do you think?