@neilsuzukisv2-Rq-DOX What a pretty garden love the colour combinations. I think it is a good year for hollyhocks.
Oh thank you, just finished two more beds out the front a week ago. Now got an arbor to finish painting and reassemble it and somehow sort out the grass hehe. It is a any colour goes, boss requests. (obviously) if it has requirements it goes in😂
My hollyhocks grown from seeds (a mixed seed pack bought from my local Aldi, labelled "Hollyhocks summer giants") last year are coming up well too. At one point last year they almost looked like they were not going to survive, but really amazed at how strong these plants are!
There are several areas around my garden where I'm growing them, the healthiest and tallest are along the N/E facing fence, what with surrounding houses, they get the least sun, although these hollyhocks haven't yet flowered. The clump in the middle of the garden that gets most sun have started to bloom though they don't look as healthy/vigorous as those facing N/E.
Didn't think I'd have hollyhocks flowering this year as we only moved to our new build last September, and what with settling into our house I never got round to sowing them until February this year. I read about the 'winter sowing' method on this forum (https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1061345/winter-sowing-for-2022/p1) where seeds are planted in plastic container (I used milk cartons) and left out in the garden over winter without protection.
After a few months the seeds had propagated, they were pricked out and placed under a plastic cold cloche, then planted out normally. I'm delighted to discover they're flowering this year (as are lupins, delphiniums/larkspur and foxgloves treated the same way). I'll be doing the same again at the start of the next New Year, hopefully using seeds from my own plants.
msqingxiao I'd be interested to know if you're able to collect seed from your double pinks. They look very similar to what I have (also purchased from a big box retailer). All the flowers on mine fell off completely, seed pod and all, one by one as the flowers faded, so the seeds were not able to ripen. I'm curious if that was a function of my climate or if that is typical for the doubles.
@Jenny_Aster You know we're going to need photos once they get going!
Q: I bought a couple of plants this year, thinking they must have been sown last year so would flower but no. They are still in pots so should I plant out? I take it they must be hardy if a Biennial but they look like a slug’s banquet to me.
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Now got an arbor to finish painting and reassemble it and somehow sort out the grass hehe.
It is a any colour goes, boss requests. (obviously) if it has requirements it goes in😂
Didn't think I'd have hollyhocks flowering this year as we only moved to our new build last September, and what with settling into our house I never got round to sowing them until February this year. I read about the 'winter sowing' method on this forum (https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1061345/winter-sowing-for-2022/p1) where seeds are planted in plastic container (I used milk cartons) and left out in the garden over winter without protection.
After a few months the seeds had propagated, they were pricked out and placed under a plastic cold cloche, then planted out normally. I'm delighted to discover they're flowering this year (as are lupins, delphiniums/larkspur and foxgloves treated the same way). I'll be doing the same again at the start of the next New Year, hopefully using seeds from my own plants.
Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.
@Jenny_Aster You know we're going to need photos once they get going!
They may not be ready for any county show, but they've been fun to grow.
Hollyhocks and delphiniums/larkspur
Grown on N/E fence, hollyhocks just about to flower and lupins
Loopy lupins
Foxgloves, I may have stretched the truth here
Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.
'The power of accurate observation .... is commonly called cynicism by those that have not got it.
George Bernard Shaw'
Q:
I bought a couple of plants this year, thinking they must have been sown last year so would flower but no. They are still in pots so should I plant out? I take it they must be hardy if a Biennial but they look like a slug’s banquet to me.