Hollyhocks P H N
Malvaceae:  Althea rosea
Hollyhock Scene
Perennial Hollyhocks, 2003
Perennial Hollyhocks
2023
May 13: Doing well in their bed, but there are not many plants. Ben moved some volunteers from here and there into their bed.
June 24: First flowers from 2 plants. The young volunteers are doing fine.
 

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Other Years


Perennial Hollyhocks
2022
June 13: Doing well. The plants that flowered last year have come back.
August 20: A very fine show, particularly the free standing plant in the garden. There are many first year plants here and there.
 
2021
June 28: First flower.
 
2020
April 4: No new growth yet. Last year's plants are still standing. The long strip of soil against the house that used to be all hollyhocks and then ribbon grass was almost empty last year. It was a large ant colony for several years, but I want to try to return it to hollyhocks.
21: I bought a packet of seeds of old fashioned type from T&T and put 8 seeds into 4 cells.
27: 2 sprouts.
May 3: 5 sprouts.
10: I transplanted 5 plants from outside their bed to inside their bed. I'm not sure how successful this will be. They had long tap roots and I may not have gotten enough.
12: I dug one plant from outside the fence and got 2 pieces of root with shoot and leaves on each. I put them into the hollyhock bed.
17: I started 6 more cells with 8 seeds.
August 11: Growing well but there will be no flowers this year.
 
2019
December 31: A few plants.
 
2014
June 18: Doing well, but many holes in the leaves.
 
2013
July 12: A few plants are flowering nicely.
September 23: They flowering beautifully and there was no rust.
 
2012
March 25: Some green leaves, and they have been there for at least 10 days.
September 15: Did fine. Less rust; clearing away all the old leaves may have helped.
 
2011
April 19: New growth, and there has been for some time.
June 28: The hollyhock rust is severe.
 
2010
June 17: Coming along fine.
July 2: First flower.
 
2009
May 1: New leaves have started to grow.
July 4: Coming along with no sign of rust.
August 3: A few flowers, and not much rust.
December 31: They became rustier later.
 
2008
April 4: As the snow melts, it has revealed small new leaves at ground level.
May 24: Doing fine.
 
2007
May 1: Doing well.
June 24: Still doing well, although some of the lower leaves have died due to heavy growth of hollyhock rust.
 
2006
April 2: A few small plants can be seen.
August 1: The plants in their second year are large and have flowered well. The empty spaces in their bed have largely been filled by volunteers or by transplanted volunteers.
 
2005
May 7:  The single-flowered plants were coming up fine in their usual place, but I sprayed them with glyphosate as I want to replace them with the double-flowered variety. Then I realized that none of the double-flowered plants have appeared yet after winter, in either of their 2 spots.
June 2:  All but 2 of the plants seemed to have died, and those 2 were very set back, but now a few of them are sending up new leaves.
July 7:  It looks as though there will be no flowers this year, but the plants that survived the spraying are still growing and some seedlings are starting too.
 
Hollyhocks
Perennial Hollyhocks, 2003
2004
March 24:  Leaves of several plants are now visible.
April 14:  I bought a package of Chater's double-flowered hollyhock seeds today from St. Mary's Nursery, $1.49 plus tax.
April 24:  I planted 24 seeds in 12 cells.
29:  2 sprouts.
June 1:  I set 7 plants along the fence and 7 along the house.
July 27:  The new plants are doing fine.   The old ones have many flowers.
 
2003
April 2:  Small leaves are visible.
May 29:  Growing fine.
June 30:  Two flowers.
July 29:  They have been putting on a bravura show for weeks now.
~October 16:  Ben cleared the bed and later worked in some manure.
 
2002
April 15: Small leaves are visible.
July 24:  One of the best displays ever!
September 2:  I have clipped off the flower and seed-bearing tops of the stalks, as there were few flowers remaining and they were tipping over with the burden of the seeds.
 
2001
May 1: There are a few small plants.
June 18: There are a few medium plants.
July 12: They are flowering nicely.
 
2000
April 22: New growth is evident.
July 14: In flower.
September 12: William put edging around their bed.
~19: I sprayed glyophosate on the grass in the bed.
 
1999
April 10: New plants are showing medium size leaves.
May 24: Doing well.
June 30: Flourishing.
July 16: They have been flowering for a while now.
August 3: Flowering nicely. Many of the leaves seem to have rust.
13: Some of the plants are finished. I chopped them into the compost pile.
September 30: All the plants are now in the compost bins. They put on a fair show this summer.
 
1998
May 2: In leaf.
 
1996
May 4: Visible.
 
1995
May 10: Visible in the garden.
 
1994
May 10: Visible today.
 
1993
August 18: The hollyhocks are flowering.
Annual Hollyhocks
Annual Hollyhock Seedling
Annual Hollyhock Seedling, 2008
2011
April 19: I seeded 9 cells.
May 27: I set out 7 seedlings.
 
2010
April 25: I started 9 cells today, 2 seeds per cell.
29: 2 sprouts today.
June 17: I set them out a few days ago and they are doing fine.
 
2009
May 3: I started 9 seeds in 9 cells.
8: 3 sprouts.
31: I set out some seedlings.
August 3: Coming along.
September 29: Flowering nicely.
 
2008
February 6: I ordered seeds of Summer Carnival Mixed, an annual hollyhock, from Stokes.
April 6: I started 9 cells, with 2 seeds per cell.
9: 2 sprouts.
May 2: I set my 9 plants out. I put 7 near the sunflowers and 2 in a gap in the delphiniums. I hope they survive. I don't know that they are frost hardy, but they look just like perennial hollyhocks, which certainly are. They were fairly large for their cells. If they are not frost hardy, then they should be started later.
3: Frost last night. They look frozen this morning.
6: They have clearly been damaged by several nights of frost, but they look like they will survive.
December 31: They survived, and went on to flower nicely.