I had great success with fig leaf hollyhocks this year. I tried them for the first time and they bloomed their little hearts out. They didn't rust but the slugs did a number on the leaves.

I allowed the seeds to fall and I have an abundance of little sprouts.

Ed-

Can they grow in shade or partial shade? I would LOVE some hollyhocks in front of my house (north side).

They need full sun and good air circulation.

You said:

Funny, though, because once you have them, you have them forever!

That's not always true,i've had them at least twice,and they never ame back !! Can anyone tell me why?? They were beautiful when i had them,had the seed pods the whole enchilada,but never,ever did they come back.To say i was dissappointed is an understatement.
Kathi

Kathi, how's your slug population? I don't get much reseeding either because the slugs and snails mow down all the tiny seedlings before they can do anything. Morning glories too, they never reseed for me.

I don't know why yours don't come back, Kathi. Mine come back so generously they are actually a probem. I've heard others say this, too. Perhaps it is the slugs, as Newskye suggests. I spread Sluggo several times a year. This is a non-toxic bait that is safe for pets and the environment. Otherwise, I would have a heavy population of slugs and snails.

Rosefolly

Hollyhocks don't self seed in my garden either, they barely have time to flower. Rust on them is a major problem in my garden as well.

Sierra

Rosefolly,

You mentioned problems with getting hollyhocks to germinate. I'm trying them from seed for the first time this year. Could you, or anyone who has been successful with them, give us newbie hollyhock growers some pointers?

Thanks for any help or advice!!

Marilyn

Best pointer I can pass on is.... bait for slugs. They will wipe out your sprouts in one pass. Seems to be their prefered food :-D

We constantly bait for slugs and snails.I know we're supposed to love all God's creatures,but i'm sorry i hate slugs,snails and gophers.In fact the garden i had the HH in i have used those snails that eat the other snails.Having a senior moment now and can't remember what they are called.LOL
Kathi

It's New Year's Day (for another hour) and I still have hollyhock blooming. It's just crazy. We've had several freezes and they are still blooming! I've never seem anything like it. Mind you, they are looking scraggily and will all die very soon. I'll try to take a couple of pix tomorrow.

Here's a pic I found today of what they looked like in August:

I'm expecting some good repeat this summer.

Hollyhocks rock.

Steven

SO pretty, Steven! CA is such a pleasant place to garden!

I wintersowed hollyhocks last year and they germinated without any trouble at all...early in fact. I had lovely strong young plants to move out to the garden. But then...RABBITS! They really mowed them - and kept on mowing every time the little plants tried to come back from the roots.

This year I'm wintersowing again but will grow my little plants up much longer in pots before putting them out. Maybe if they are less like expensive baby lettuce the rabbits won't be after them so much.

Steven,those are Gorgeous!! TFS
Kathi

When I plant seeds saved from my hollyhocks, they rarely take. However, the seeds which the hollyhocks drop send up volunteers all round the mother plant. That leads me to believe that hollyhock seeds do best overwintering on the ground, and need very little cover. Probably stepping the seeds into the soil is better than actually planting them. I am also thinking the seeds don't need a lot of water to germinate.

I started some hollyhocks already on my porch and they have germinated. I hope I can keep them going until spring!

Marilyn - I laid the seeds down and gently pressed them against the soil (don't cover) - they need light to germinate. Then I covered the pot with plastic. Hope this helps!

Hollyhock lover,
Estelle

Well, now you have me interested in those fig-leaf hollyhocks - rust is a problem here. Germination, however, has never been a problem; whether self-seeded or stored, they seem eager to grow. Autumn of 2006 I had been watching and waiting for seed pods to ripen on my hollyhock "Nigra" so I could harvest and share, when we got hit with several days of rain. When I went out after the rains ceased to assess the situation, my first impression was that tiny worms had gotten to the seeds/pods ... No, they had germinated ... still in the pod on the stalk!

Beautiful hollyhocks Steven!

Diane

Thanks for the pointers on seed germination. Sounds like I had better get out and do some seed scattering!

I've got my fingers crossed that I have Steven's results. Wow, what a picture!

Marilyn

Is this one a fig leafed hollyhock? It was very rust resistant in our heavily rusty area. I grew it out a few years ago from seeds I got here on the seed exchange. It actually acts as a perennial and I've had it for two seasons now. All my hollyhocks are perennials. They come back every year here. The slugs are very troublesome here too. I always bait for them. They've been chomping down my annual poppy seedlings! I have LOTS of seeds of this. Gorgeous hollyhocks Steven!

{{gwi:299767}}

Lol, ive had lots of experience with hollyhocks. Theyve been growing in my yard for more than twenty years. They really seem to like it here, so much so that their almost a pest. They reseed like crazy. Its difficult to remove them when their not little seedlings. Everyones always amazed at the unusual spots my hollyhocks will pop up in. Theyve even grow in cracks of the cement! Rust always seems to be a problem even under the best conditions. Im sad to say it, but there are some places that hollyhocks just will not grow. Ive given seeds and seedlings to friends and relatives in Seattle, but they cant get them to grow, their climate is just to moist for them. Hollyhocks seem to grow best in fairly rich and moist soil that has sharp drainage. Ive never purposfully set out to sow seeds, but I think some of you may have good luck in germinating them if you plant the seeds in moist sand. I have a few pics.

This is a plant that grew in the crack of the cement in front of my shed. The cement gets HOT in summer, but that didnt bother it. It was still huge.

Heres a pic of one growing in a good deal of shade.

This one grew more that eighteen feet tall!!! I kid you not!
I had to move it last spring because it was hiding all my other plants!
{{gwi:768760}}

Hope you all have luck with your hollyhocks!
CMK

Rabbits eat mine. I would LOVE to have them as big and healthy!

Oh I love hollyhocks! Now is it just me or does anyone else find that they come up in slightly different colours each year? M

Definitely, the hollyhocks do change colors. The first bloom seems to be the strongest color, and subsequent blooms are less intense. I have a five year old hollyhock which first blooms dark pink, but subsequent blooms are pale pink. I have some ruffled hollyhocks which first bloom apricot color, but subsequent blooms are nearly white.
Lorna

My mother-in-law planted hollyhocks in her garden a few years back. Now, they grow all along the fence line and they seem to be the only plant the horses won't eat so they are in great abundance there, LOL. She hasn't had any trouble with the ones by the fence, she doesn't do anything them and they come back fuller and prettier every year. The ones in her garden have had to be replaced though.

I have a question about the mother plant. I thought I read somewhere on one of these posts that the mother plant won't flower again. Is this true? Last year was the first year I grew them. I ripped out the mother plants after they had reseeded and after I gathered some seed myself. Did I make a mistake? They were the farm strain kind, singles.
Meghan

I love hollyhock too, but I can't have them for long. They normally grow very tall in my garden and flower beautifully but always end up having billions of black flies (asphids?) so that I have to chop them down!!! I seem to have lost the battle with this pest!

Xuan

I have an old-fashioned hollyhock (grown from seed), which will be five years old this spring. It puts out one big bloom, and a second lesser bloom, each year.

Xuan, if your insect pests are aphids, you can get rid of them by throwing a bucket of soapy water on them. Just use simple soap, dish washing liquid (not the strong antibacterial soap). Throw the soapy water up underneath the plant, so it wets the underside of the leaves, because that is where aphids congregate. Hollyhocks don't like water on their leaves, but I just cut off any leaves which develop rust from getting wet.

Lorna

mora, your plants in the photo are stunning! So vivid! Thanks for sharing.

Xuan

Still wondering if you normally leave the original plant as it will flower the next year or if I was right to rip out the mother plant because she won't flower the next year?

I had planted them by seed last spring and boy did they give me a glorious show last summer! Then the rust got them but at least it was after they flowered. I'm just hoping for another big show this summer and that I didn't make a mistake taking out the original plants.
Meghan

As I said, I had to chop down my hollyhocks every time... but I do get new branches come up from the mother stumps left in the ground.

Xuan

Meghan, my five year old plant is the original mother plant. I cut her back every year. This year the wild rabbits did that for me. However, the plant comes back strong and blooms beautifully year after year.

Lorna

I guess this year I will hope I get some that reseeded and this time leave the mother plant in the ground. I just asked because I thought I read somewhere that the mother plant won't flower again. Thank you for the replies and now I know better this time around!
Meghan

Meghan, I think it depends on what specific plant you have. It seems that I have read that there are some hollyhocks that are annuals, some are perennial and some are biennials. Wish I could remember where I read it so you could take a look at the article.

I planted hollyhock plants in the late summer of 2006. They didn't grow much and they didn't bloom. Last year they came back and the three little plants put out more than 50 shoots of flowers between them. They bloomed from mid-July right up until it was about time for the first freezes in early October. I saved some seed and let the rest drop into the mulch. It remains to be seen if I have the biennial type or the perennial type. My plants didn't get rust at all last year and we don't have slugs here either. I plan to add more hollyhocks this year.

MeMo

I wintersowed them very easily a few years ago and then planted them out in the garden as they got bigger. Now I have volunteers in the garden. My bigger ones already have rust though and it is only March! I love the way the look but have a hard time with the rust.

Thanks MeMo, I still have thae package from the seeds. It says they are biennial. I was really surprised how they did. Like I said I planted those in the spring and man I have huge hollyhockss all summer long they just bloomed their heads off. Then at the beginning of fall when they had quit blooming and the rust kicked in I ripped them all out. After I let some go to seed and saved some for the spring. I just (well DH did) tilled all along the section of my fence (post & rail) and plan to sow a bunch of seeds along the fence.

Now as far as perennial types go I did get the perennial foxgloves from BS last summer. They didn't flower last year but I'm excited to see how they do this year. Anyone growing the perennial type foxgloves?
Meghan

Here is a spray for Hollyhocks that someone, here at the cottage, posted a year or two ago. I'd give credit to that person if I had written down who it was...Sorry! It is supposed to stop RUST from happening. I haven't had to use it, yet, so I hope that it helps those of you that need it.

Healthy Hollyhock Spray

1 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1 T. Canola Oil
1/2 tsp. Ivory Dish Soap
1/2 C. White Vinegar
1 gal. water

MeMo

These blooms are from the branches coming back after mother plant being chopped down.

Xuan

I have three hollyhock plants. This is their THIRD year. They never got bigger than a salad bowl, they never bloomed, they never had rust. They just ARE.

Maybe with a little nudge, they'll bloom this year.

If that old saying holds true,Foxesearth you may get flowers this year. Remember the first year they sleep,the second they creep and the third they Leap.Lets hope this is true for you.
Kathi

I have just bought some some small plants, which are thriving, but don't know when to plant them in the garden.I'm keeping them outside in the day to 'harden off'. Is it too early to plant them out? Are they frost resistant as small plants? We are having warm sunny days,but we do sometimes have frost overnight.

I just read that you should put your hollyhock plants in the ground two or three weeks after your last frost date. I have two little plants that I grew from seed from a hollyhock in France, and I put them in because the ones I already have were coming up well already. I hope that wasn't too early! I didn't realize that hollyhock seeds need light to germinate and I only got two plants out of about twenty seeds, so I'm hoping they'll make it.

Mora, that's a beautiful picture. What are the hot pink and the yellow flowers near the hollyhocks?

I had a container of HollyHock seeds sitting outside, drying out a bit before being stored away til Spring. It rained, I'd, more-or-less, forgotten about them, resulting in them soaking for a few days.

Has germination already been kick started?

Is it now too late to try again to dry and store them?

I know they can be "Winter Sown" and I have read that some folks plant HollyHock in the Fall, I take it, the premise being that they would start in the fall, go into dormancy over winter and come back that much stronger in the Spring. Also some start them inside, grow them in the house through the winter ready to be transplanted in the Spring. I have a few concerns about this; among other things, I'd think they could reach considerable size in 6 or more months.

I'm leaning toward just planting them all now (late October) and hoping for the best but I'd like to hear your thoughts on what might be the best route to take with these?

Thanks

I know im late [and slow] does anyone have any HH seeds to share or trade , especially fig leaf....I have mixed zinnia seeds to trade or shre .. thanks ahead, molly / sewnmom7@yahoo.com

I have seed I could share but also have a question first. For the last several years I've had terrible luck with HH in that they become diseased. Some say the fungus is in the soil, others say it's "in the wind" from other diseased HHs. Or could it be seed from unhealthy HHs that germinate and grow, passing on the disease and producing plants that are prone to the mildew,etc? Perhaps some varieties are hardier than others. Just wondering.

Just editing post to say that this is why I would hesitate to share my HH seed.

This post was edited by schoolhouse on Sun, Oct 26, 14 at 11:50