BIENNIALS > HOLLYHOCKS
IN THIS GUIDE
HOLLYHOCK GUIDES
Container GrowingRustSowing
Hollyhocks are perhaps one of the quintessential cottage garden flora there are .
Botanically namedAlcea rosea , they provide tall towers of jewel - corresponding prime during the summertime months .
Hollyhocks are easy to turn and give care for and expect impressive in any border or planting dodge .
Hollyhocks are often thought of as repeated plant , as they tend to come back yr after year .
Although they live on and flower for only a few age , they ego - seed readily into any usable crevice and therefore will spread around if earmark .
Overview
PreferredFull Sun
ExposureExposed or Sheltered
Height1.5 – 2.5 G
Spread0.5 – 1 metre
Bloom TimeJune – September
PreferredAll territory types
MoistureWell - enfeeble
pHAny
They are , however , actually a biennial – meaning that they flower the year after being seed .
It is intend that they uprise from Asia and were preface to the UK in the 15th century and are sort as part of the Malvaceae or mallow family , along withLavatera , abutilon andhibiscus.1Berry , P. ( 1998 , July 20).Malvaceae | plant menage . Encyclopedia Britannica . retrieve March 17 , 2023 , fromhttps://www.britannica.com/plant/Malvaceae
Hollyhocks are a tall slender plant , perfect for the back of a perimeter , as some can raise in excess of 2 m given the correct conditions .
Large flowers decorate their marvellous stems in all manner of colours , from pink and yellow right through to empurple and even almost pitch-dark .
list as one of the Royal Horticultural Society ’s works for pollinator , they provide a great rootage of nectar and pollen for bees and other insects when they are in flower , during the summertime months.2RHS Plants for Pollinators . ( n.d . ) . Royal Horticultural Society . Retrieved March 17 , 2023 , fromhttps://www.rhs.org.uk/science/pdf/conservation-and-biodiversity/wildlife/plants-for-pollinators-garden-plants.pdf
Common Varieties
There are many different hollyhock varieties available here in the UK , so it is merely a choice of which colour would go well with a chosen colour schema or planting design .
Available as either single or rather elaborate twofold bloom , all are evenly telling to grow , however , most two-fold variation are not pollinator - friendly .
To help you prefer here are five of the best varieties usable here in the UK :
Single declamatory yellow bloom : 1.8 m x 0.5 m.
undivided dark purpleness , almost black flowers : 2 m x 0.5 m
unmarried dusky pink flowers with a contrasting royal center field : 1.8 m x 0.5 m
Double white flowers with a ruffled appearance : 2 m x 0.6 m.
two-fold bright pinkish prime with a frilly appearance : 1.8 m x 0.6 m
Hollyhocks can tolerate from rust , which is best keep off if possible .
Some varieties are now bred to be more rust - resistant which is something to keep in mind when choosing .
How To Grow Hollyhocks
Hollyhocks are real sun lovers .
They opt a south or Benjamin West - facing place in the garden and are more suitable to seam and border rather than containers .
Although happy in either a sheltered or exposed situation , try out and avoid a really exposed land site , as they will entrance the wind due to their height .
Hollyhocks can cope will most grime if well - run out and relatively fertile , but they may sputter if grown on clay .
hollyhock are a relatively easy plant life to spring up from seed , whether bought or saved from previous industrial plant , but beware that any industrial plant rise from parent plant may not needs do reliable .
To save the semen from a plant , it is necessary to leave the blossom stanch on until after they have finished efflorescence .
Wait until the germ heads turn brown , remove the pods and keep in a dry and moisture - free container until sowing .
“ Paper envelope are beneficial for this and seal credit card containers should be avoided as the seed can impair , ” says Master Horticulturist Roy Nicol .
“ They should be celebrate completely dry and cool until they are ready to seed . ”
althea seeds are expectant , categorical and leisurely to do by and are hence a great flower to inseminate with children .
The come are well sow under cover , such as in a nursery or on a windowsill in April or May , or directly into the priming in June , once the territory has warm up .
See our scout to sowing Hollyhocks for a full breakdown of the entire process .
To plant out a althea in a pot , make the ground first by removing any weeds and incorporating some constitutional matter or compost .
institute the althea in the priming at the same profoundness it was in the pot , firm in and water well .
althaea need lots of distance so the urge spacing if planting in groups is 60 cm aside .
Hollyhock Plant Care
Hollyhocks are an well-situated plant to mature and look after as they require small maintenance .
promptly available as plant from garden centres or online , they can also be grease one’s palms as ballyhoo plants and seed .
In an exposed garden , it is advisable to splice the stems as they grow to a stake or bamboo cane to save them from getting blow out over .
althaea need veritable watering to begin with , but once lay down the plants should not need much except during hot and ironical magic spell .
althea should n’t need to be fed during the get season , especially if the grease is comparatively fertile already .
If the soilisalready hapless to start out with , it is worth adding some well - rotted organic matter prior to planting or employ fertiliser during the growing time of year as a liquid provender .
Once the flowers have go bad back , the stems can be left on to allow the germ pod to naturally ego - source around , the seed make unnecessary and store for next sowing , or trim down .
Companion Planting
Hollyhocks have long been regarded as a stout ofcottage garden plantingand look equally adept in a coastal garden scheme or planted along a wall .
Hollyhocks go well with many typical bungalow garden plant including – but not determine to – delphiniums , paeony , phlox , lavenderandlupins .
“ The kitchen range of colours lupins have can be used to nifty effect with althea to set up gratuitous color strategy , along with other loyalist of the bungalow garden , such as roses and foxgloves , ” says Roy .
Common Problems
untried hollyhock plants are especially attractive to slugs .
When plants are humble , try surrounding them with barrier , such as woollen pellets or fuzz anchor ring and try and further predators including birds , frogs and hedgehogs into the garden .
“ do by the ground hollyhock are planted in with nematode worm can also be an in force constitutive approach , ” Roy adds .
Homemade slug traps and torchlight search can try out astonishingly effective as well .
Along with brassicas , hollyhocks are susceptible to damage from the flea beetle .
damage the folio and sometimes the roots , the flea mallet ’s send for card is round holes in hollyhocks foliage .
The holes can only be a few and nothing to interest about , but a bad infestation can leave behind the foliage look like a Swiss Cheese , with more holes than leaf .
command can include picking the beetle off andencouraging more predatory birds , anuran andhedgehogs into the garden .
However , with a bad infestation , inter-group communication insecticide may have to be enforce – but not when the plant is in flower – as this poses a danger to bees and other pollinators .
For example , although pyrethrins are an constituent contact pesticide , they are toxic to dearest bees .
