I love Hollyhocks!!! This is one of my favorites. I have all diff. colors, some singles and some doubles.
hollyhocks
Oh love that one!
and this one. it has 5" blooms.
Gosh!
I call this my " watermellon" hollyhock.
double rose hollyhock.
double red hollyhock.
my black one...
and a pretty pink.
so pretty for such a simple plant....
Viv
Just had to show you one more. Double pink...sorry, kind of fuzzy picture.
This message was edited Jul 11, 2006 11:17 AM
Ok all you Hollyhock lovers...I love them too...I live in zone 5 not sure if they are bi-annial or what but something always eats the leaves on mine and the leaves also turn yellow & die off...Can someone please tell me what that is caused from? Hope the picture comes through clear..After seeing all the other pretty hollyhocks kinda embarrassed with mine...Glad I rejoined Dave's garden..
I'm trying them this year. I bought a few plants and my local rabbit keeps eating them for breakfast and dinner. He eats them to the ground, then waits a week for them to put out new leaves and chows down again. He's winning so far but I'm not giving up.
I also direct seeded a bunch with very good results so far. Hope to see a bunch of flowers next year if I can beat the bunny.
Here is another pink. I am not a huge bright pink fan, but I like it well enough to keep it. I should have more colors soon. I love those pale yellow and white singles that were pictured above and the dark ones. Were o' where are mine? Patti
The leaves falling off on bottom is rust. If you spray a fungicide early in the season, they do better. Mine are starting now-not sure if I'll have time to spray this year.
Wow!!! I have blooming hollyhocks!! Sigh... I thought this day woould never come. Not much else to say, it's something like pink or red but it was raining... I'm wash and wear but the electric wheelchair is fussy around water.
xxxxx, Carrie
Hi, Carrie. I am very excited for you! Can't wait to see, but wait till all is safe!
Also excited for me-I have some more pics. Patti, this is the bright pink that might be the same as yours.
Also have a new yellow blooming!
Isn't this one different?? Unbelievable-they all came from the man who mows my lawn. They were seedlings in his garden paths.
One last overview before the heavy rains-I hope they are still up! I strung them up a few weeks ago with jute stapled to the barn wall.
I saw some double flowered hollyhocks in the park catalog about a month ago. If I remember corectly,m they are true annuals, not the biennials we are mostly discussing. is that right, or does anyone know if there are biennial doubles?
Peter
Hi Peter, Not sure about that, but all of my doubles were planted last spring (2005) and did not bloom until this year. I started all my hollyhocks from seed in the house during the winter, then put them out in spring.
Some of them are around 7 foot tall and some about 4 foot. One year I had some planted close to the house and they went up to the roof.
Bev
Didn't work. Here's the text.
Hollyhocks
Hollyhocks have become more popular recently with the interest in cottage gardens. At 5-9 feet tall, they can be used as a nice background plant in a flower border, or along a fence or wall.
The older varieties of hollyhocks are short-lived perennials that are usually treated as biennials. The first year flowering is sparse, but during the second year they show their glory flowering June to late August. Although the plant may live and flower for several years, it rarely flowers as much as a new plant started from seed. Once hollyhocks are established their self seeding characteristic keeps them blooming like new each year. Individual plants will be longer lived if the old flower spikes are removed immediately after flowering.
Seeds may be sown outside July or in August to produce flowering plants next year. Or seeds can be started indoors in the winter for bloom the following summer. Seeds germinate in 2-3 weeks at 60¼ F.
Hollyhocks do best in full sun; in moist but well drained areas. They appreciate fertilizer in early spring which could explain their love of manure piles.
Hollyhocks are tough plants, but they do have some insect and disease problems. Hollyhock rust is the most common and widespread disease. Rust is a fungus that first appears on the undersides of lower leaves as lemon-yellow to orange pustules that darken with age. The top of the leaf shows bright yellow to orange spots with reddish centers. Spots may quickly come together to destroy large portions of the leaf. Good sanitation can control rust.
Dancy--mine will bloom the following spring if put out in early August. They start growing in Feb when nothing much is and always bloom in May for me.
Debbie
She still doesn't have any blooms on her hollyhocks but the plants look excellent. So maybe they will bloom next spring. Hope so anyway. Thanks for the information Debbie. ;)
Lin
I am confused about my hollyhocks... What happened to my black ones? Here is what has bloomed so far. Patti
Patti,
Those are gorgeous!!!! Who likes black, anyway?!?
xxxx, Carrie
This message was edited Jul 14, 2006 7:57 PM
boojum -
That's a good overview. Mine are maturing seed on the stalks right now, but I think I will cut them to see if they will return next year. i assume they will have already started self-sewing, but it will be fun to start some intentionally in pots this weekend.
boojum-
Whomever you're quoting says " Good sanitation can control rust." Lysol? 409? Ajax? Hunh? What is good sanitation if you're a hollyhock?
xxxx, Carrie
more Hollyhocks today.........
and more........
Prolly good sanitation means taking off the rusty leaves and spraying with a fungicidal. I always try for more natural sprays. I've heard if you spray when the plants are just starting (clumps) that you can avoid rust altogether. This year, I haven't done a thing!
Me either, but I do have complete ignorance as an excuse. Plantzoo, are those peaches and dreams? Byooooo-ti-full, indeed!!!
xxxxx, Carrie
What a trip down memory lane, I feel like I'm 10 years old in my Mom and Grandma's gardens. They had hollyhocks. Now I'm going to be thinking where I could plant them. Your pictures are wonderful.
Here's me in the hollyhocks today.
Barbur, so glad I stirred up such good memories. My mom always had them, too. Thanks for the compliment.
boojum, you fit right in with the hollyhocks...love the hat :-) when I was a child I was given a little garden corner by our landlady to plant what I wanted and I always picked hollyhocks.......another little trip down memory lane (sigh!)
gram
boojum, what a great picture of you! My hollyhocks are almost all blooming, and it looks like I picked all doubles, although I love the look of the single blossoms now. As you said before, "who knew"? Can I hope that they'll revert to singles?
xxxxx, Carrie
Thanks for the compliment! About the doubles, you always can hope, but I'd be VERY surprised!