Hollyhocks

My beautiful, plentiful hollyhocks are getting yellow raised spots on their leaves. What can I do?

Rube, I came here in search of an answer to that very question! Did you find a solution?

This might help:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1037113/

Thanks Xeram

No. And now I have a further question. I have a tree, in the dogwood or red bud family I suspect, that is very ill and now being eaten by ants. I have some spectracide insect killer that the Hope Depot guy gave my son but I haven't used yet. I suppose it is very toxic and wonder if it is safe to use. I really want to save this tree which provides joy to us and the birds. It was doing well but suddenly a big whole appeared and the ants are eating out the inside. HELP!

I would suggest starting a new thread with your question--this thread is a very old one about hollyhocks so the people who might know about your tree may not even open the thread. When you start your new thread, I would also post some pictures of the tree since that will help people figure out what is going on. Personally I doubt that it's the ants that are causing the problem. With the exception of fire ants which can damage plants (but I don't believe you have them in Chicago), ants generally don't eat plants. When you see ants crawling all over a plant it typically means you have an infestation of aphids, scale, mealybugs, etc--they secrete honeydew which attracts the ants. But it's the aphids or scale that will damage the plant, not the ants so you need to make sure you're using an appropriate product to get rid of the insect that's actually causing the problem.

thanks. I'll start a new thread. I'm also sure the ants aren't the underlying problem for the tree but maybe I have to get rid of them first to treat the tree??? rube

Hi, I have a hollyhock question. Are hollyhocks perenial? I have some that did not bloom in 2013 but they are still green and this is Dec. Help??? alda

Some are perennial and some are biennial. In my neck of the woods neither wood bloom the first year.

This message was edited Dec 4, 2013 1:15 PM

Hey Las14, Thank you so much for your help. Can't wait for spring. Or can I plant them inside in greenhouse? Thanks again, Alda

I think it would be OK to start them in a greenhouse. But I don't think it will change the fact that the won't bloom the first year. So I'm not sure what the benefit would be.