Hollyhocks

[dujoan]

I'm considering adding Hollyhocks to my garden --how long do they bloom? Do they look "weedy" when they're done blooming? I especially like the double yellows.:rolleyes:

[Chyna]

I think they bloom all summer, you do know that it takes them two years to bloom right? I didn't until my neighbor told me, the first year I thought they were a total dud! As for weedy I don't think they do but that depends on your idea of weedy looking.

[Lisa S]

I can never remember how long it takes them to bloom. I CAN tell you (shame, shame!), that the first year that we lived here, I thought they were weeds and pulled them all up! :eek:

Looks like they're coming back nice now...

[Chyna]

That's what my neighbor said too. she kept planting these hollyhocks and they wouldn't produce so she' pull them up, so she got fed up with that one year and just left them and sure enough the next year they bloomed. then someone told her that they take two years. I'm just glad she told me or I'd be really miffed!:mad:

[dujoan]

NO!!:oI didn't know it took two years! That's definitely a good thing to know! Would you recommend them as a good addition to a cottage type flower garden??

[dedavis]

I have some old-style hollyhocks that were here when I moved in--a lot of the older yards in town have them. They're dark red singles, and bloom later in the summer. They get quite tall, so I have them toward the back of the flowerbed. They are short-lived perennials, and reseed themselves. If you deadhead them before they set seed, you won't get new ones. Hollyhocks have long taproots, so if you move them do it when they're small. The leaves on mine get bug-eaten and nasty-looking toward the end.

[Lisa S]

I think Hollyhocks MAKE the cottage garden! You'll love them.

[Chyna]

I agree, no cottage garden is complete without hollyhocks. Even though it takes them forever to get moving. I'm just hoping that they bloom again this year. The idea that maybe I should have over-seeded the first year when they didn't bloom is making my stomach drop. sigh.:(

[cheapdiva]

I had Hollyhocks in the garden at my old house - if you leave them alone over winter they will seed themselves and you'll get Hollyhocks every year (after the initial year). They are technically a bi-annual, should bloom every other year. But until my daughter and son-in-law bought our house, I had Hollyhocks every year and LOVED them.

I let the garden go every fall and did not clean up until the spring. I was always amazed by how many plants re-seeded themselves (especially perenials that are more like annuals in cold climates) just because I didn't clean up in the fall.

[Lisa S]

Oh, like I need a reason not to do yard work in the fall! You make a really good point.