Hollyhocks
We have never managed to grow a hollyhock before this summer, yet this one appeared from nowhere and quickly grew to more than eight feet tall. We didn’t plant it and we don’t know where it came from. Some little bird, maybe, on a migration journey from one garden to another. Who knows? What I do know is that these flowers are magnificent. This one has endured the summer’s heat, the occasional thunder storm, strong winds, and heavy rain. We had early frost in September, but it seemed to give the hollyhock strength and it blossomed on and on.
Right now, pine siskins and the occasional American goldfinch settle on our hollyhock and peck at the precious seed pods. Precious, because we have gathered some of the seeds, given others to a good friend, and offered some to the passerines who all too soon will be flying south. Those seeds we have kept we will plant. Hopefully, next year, we will have several of these beautiful plants growing in the garden.
The plant, incidentally, is more than ten feet in length. The vertical height is eight feet. Here, in this photo, it bends to touch its toes, hence the downward slant that it has taken.
rogermoorepoet 
What a wonderful visitor to your garden…I hope your dreams of growing more next year are fulfilled.
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Thanks, Janice. We have certainly kept a load of seeds and given even more to friends. We’ll plant them his fall and see what happens. |This one is pretty hardy too. A lot of people lost theirs with that first early frost, but this one battles on: a true survivor.
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One advantage of self seeding is that the plant chooses a good place to grow (that’s one of my theories anyway 🙂
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I love hollyhocks. I had them in the garden at my first house, but they didn’t transplant well to the next home. Maybe I will try them again when we settle over in Ireland!
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Lots of people have commented on how difficult they are to grow. This one didn’t grow … he visited us. Hopefully, we’ll use his seed to grow some more next year. He’s so beautiful. A blessing. And the hummingbirds love him. Of course, I don’t know what sex s/he is, so I impose my own sex upon him. Clare probably calls her a she!
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A blessing indeed! I hope the seeds will produce next year. I actually think some plants have both sexes which is how they self fertilize. Others, you have to make sure you have a ‘male’ and ‘female’ to propagate. Maybe that’s different for ‘re-seeders’ like hollyhocks, I’m not sure….
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Clare has been collecting the seeds and handing them as gifts to those who ‘much admire’ the plant. It is gorgeous. Looks like we may have rain today. We need it!
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