Growing up, I remember that my mother always had hollyhocks planted all over our flower garden. Mom would tell us stories of how my grandmother made sure that she had hollyhocks planted as well and considered them a must have flowering plant for any garden. Everyone that I talk to about hollyhocks tells me that somehow they inherited some hollyhocks seeds from their grandmothers. It seems that hollyhock seeds do get passed on from generation to generation mainly because they are beautiful but also because they are easy to grow. (photo courtesy: Breck’s)

It has been said that hollyhocks go back to ancient Roman and Greek times and these existed in lots of their gardens. Some say that they were planted amongst lilies and roses and hollyhocks were also depicted in ancient art work. The Romans used hollyhocks in many culinary recipes and the ancient Greeks used it as a sacrifice to Apollo in many celebrations and also for medicinal purposes. In Greece, the roots of hollyhocks were used to treat indigestion, toothache, inflammation and even earaches.

Hollyhocks are also found in many cottage gardens and the reason might be that these types of gardens don’t really have any design to speak of. In a cottage garden, flowers are usually planted together and all over the place so that it looks like the flowers grow wild. So in country cottage gardens, anything goes and it is okay to just plant flowers any way you like. Cottage gardens are informal where you may have a path that leads to the flower garden and nothing more. But one thing is for sure, you will see hollyhocks planted there because these require very little care. (photo courtesy: Breck’s)

Hollyhocks come in many colors but the most popular ones are pink, red, rose and white. Most of the bloom from July to September and can grow up to 6 feet tall so be sure to plant them in an area in your garden where these will not crowd your other perennials. Ideal places to plant hollyhocks are fences and walls where these can create a backdrop for other smaller flowers. Hollyhocks tolerate drought conditions and do well in full sun.

When you plant the seeds, Hollyhocks will only bear leaves for the first year. It is recommended that you add some compost to the soil when the leaves die and mulch around the plant to protect them during the winter months. Don’t worry, hollyhocks do well in zones 3-9 and are very hardy so these will come back in the spring. And because these are perennials, you will have them for years to come. If you don’t have any seeds and would like to have hollyhocks in your garden, check out Breck’s as they have some plants that come already established in 3 inch pots. You can then start saving the seeds and adding more hollyhocks to your flower garden every year. (photo courtesy: Breck’s)

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 28th, 2010 at 6:41 pm and is filed under Flower Gardening. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.