@Fire That's a beautiful photo the light is amazing. My brother is a landscape photograper none of his skills have come my way. I can appreciate his work but no clue how he achieves it.
I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
This is a house in our little town called - Hollyhocks! The previous owner of the house cut them all down as he didn't like them, but the new owner has allowed them to flourish.
We have two houses like that opposite me. One has their whole front garden full of them and it spilled to next door who embraced it (one is a 95 year old and the other just turned 80) before it spilled half way up the road. We now have them growing out of every tiny crack between the pavement and people's walls and they seem oblivious to the council's attempts to kill them with weedkiller (thankfully). They aren't looking their best foliage wise because we are having one of the driest summers I can remember.
They spawn so many seedlings that we pot up every year and sell for charity that I think norwich will be covered in them soon.
Interestingly and a little off topic but here reds and pinks seem to dominate. The original garden has the odd nigra and some lovely pale yellows and peaches (no white though) but the new ones seem to nearly always be reddy hues so I'm not sure if it's just luck or a known thing.
I must say though @SYinUSA those are the healthiest leaves I've seen on a hollyhock. Our feral volunteers are much shabbier than those.
I love those pale lemon ones. Mine have never self-seeded successfully. As with most "self sowing" I think the slugs snaffle the lot. So many seeds fell and were sprinkled and not one grew up.
How do they do in dappled shade? I understand they are full sun lovers...
@thevictorian That sounds wonderful! Hollyhocks aren't terribly common here, so no chance for happenstance seeding in my garden. I'll need to order seed - I have lots of pavement cracks to fill!
The foliage toward the bottom (fortunately hidden by other plants in front) was much less healthy. I cut off the rusty leaves and sprayed neem oil above to prevent the upward movement of the rust, but it was a losing battle. Now that I know rust is a matter of course with hollyhocks, I'll try not to be so obsessive about it and simply enjoy the blooms.
Maybe there's some cross-pollination happening so all the whites and reds eventually blend to mostly pink, but I'm just guessing.
@Fire I'm really not sure about how they'd do in those conditions. Mine get morning and late afternoon shade, but strong continuous sunlight in the middle of the day. As with most plants, I imagine they'd grow but maybe not flower quite as well.
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Against my brick I need a white bloom, I think. The one you posted, @Fire, is gorgeous!
This is a house in our little town called - Hollyhocks! The previous owner of the house cut them all down as he didn't like them, but the new owner has allowed them to flourish.
They spawn so many seedlings that we pot up every year and sell for charity that I think norwich will be covered in them soon.
Interestingly and a little off topic but here reds and pinks seem to dominate. The original garden has the odd nigra and some lovely pale yellows and peaches (no white though) but the new ones seem to nearly always be reddy hues so I'm not sure if it's just luck or a known thing.
I must say though @SYinUSA those are the healthiest leaves I've seen on a hollyhock. Our feral volunteers are much shabbier than those.
@thevictorian That sounds wonderful! Hollyhocks aren't terribly common here, so no chance for happenstance seeding in my garden. I'll need to order seed - I have lots of pavement cracks to fill!
The foliage toward the bottom (fortunately hidden by other plants in front) was much less healthy. I cut off the rusty leaves and sprayed neem oil above to prevent the upward movement of the rust, but it was a losing battle. Now that I know rust is a matter of course with hollyhocks, I'll try not to be so obsessive about it and simply enjoy the blooms.
Maybe there's some cross-pollination happening so all the whites and reds eventually blend to mostly pink, but I'm just guessing.
@Fire I'm really not sure about how they'd do in those conditions. Mine get morning and late afternoon shade, but strong continuous sunlight in the middle of the day. As with most plants, I imagine they'd grow but maybe not flower quite as well.