One of the many wonderful surprises in my yard this spring are hollyhocks. I planted several hollyhocks from seeds last spring but I didn’t see any flowers until this year! I love the tall flowery stems that sprouted. I planted a mix of hollyhock seeds but the colors that bloomed this year are BLACK (how cool is that!!!!????), pink, and red. I am very partial to black flowers. All are my favorites so far.
I tell you, these guys are not easy to keep them looking great all the time. The leaves were riddled with rust, curls, mildew, and all kinds of ugliness as you can see from the pictures. I try not to look at the leaves when I go out there to visit them. I was constantly trimming the infested leaves off of the plant, that was not enjoyable.
Despite the difficulty maintaining hollyhocks, I think it is worthwhile to grow a few more of them. I think they would look great grown in groups. I did manage to save the flower seeds for next year’s planting. Hopefully the current plants will be more abundant in their third year.
Verdant Garden 