Now In Bloom - Hollyhocks

At the moment, I'm enchanted by hollyhocks (Alcea rosea), double, single, ruffled, pastel or in the deepest, darkest shades of maroon and plum.  Langley is a city of lilacs in springtime and the most gorgeous and healthy hollyhocks I've ever seen in summer. Hollyhocks tend to be disease-prone in our climate, their foliage riddled with rust - not in Langley! Hollyhocks are growing along the roadside here, sticking out of hedges, edging gardens and blooming in the little alleys between shops in town. They tower overhead, growing a surprising 7-10 feet tall.

Hollyhocks are traditional cottage-garden flowers, yet are so tall and stately, with big, open flowers, that they're striking in any style of garden. The darker flowers like 'Night Watchman' (above) look more modern; the doubles in water-color shades like 'Apricot-Peach Parfait' are sweeter and more old-fashioned looking.  Renee's Garden has a good selection of seed in exciting colors.

Hollyhocks need full sun and moist, rich soil that drains well. The secret to growing healthy hollyhocks is not to crowd them  - plant them a couple of feet apart - so air circulates freely around their foliage. And keep them well-watered; a soaker hose laid along their root zone keeps them blooming happily. If you plant hollyhocks next to a fence, hedge or wall you hopefully won't need to stake them up.

A short lived perennial or biennial,  hollyhocks live a couple of years, but tend to reseed themselves about so they return consistently to bloom summer after summer. Cut the stems back to the ground after they're done flowering, mulch well in late autumn, and enjoy a mid-summer hollyhock display for years to come.

Here are some of the hollyhocks gracing Langley alleys and byways on the morning of August 4th....

 

 

 

Comments

[Denise]

Wow, those are healthy. Hollyhocks have been blooming in my neighborhood's parkways and front gardens all summer, zone 10, Los Angeles, as they do every year, all volunteers, all healthy looking. Why it took me so long to get in on the hollyhock action again, I can't say. Probably old rust issues with them. But I finally purchased a couple of the fig-leaf types myself this year for next summer. As far as old-fashioned, if they're good enough for Frank Lloyd Wright...

[DariaW]

Maybe the salt air discourages rust? Here in inland Skagit Co., I'm finding I have more disease issues than I did in Seattle -- Mt Ash, the common light colored lilacs, a cultivar of the native bleeding heart, all marytrs to chronic illness.