Step 1
hollyhock , or Althea rosea , are delicate flower that heyday flush in mid - summertime time of year . The plant , which has about 60 metal money , are aboriginal to Asia and can be two-year or cutter perennial .
Growth
Flower spikes emerge from May to October and can be 5 to 9 feet improbable . The flowers are usually shades of white , reddish blue or pink . The plant rise best in full sun .
Meaning
The Scripture " althaea " come from " alkaia , " the Greek word for mallow . " Holly " may be the news " holy " taint .
Japan Ties
A hollyhock is the Tokugawa family ’s seal in Japan . It is a symbolization to the era that the Tokugawa sept ruled Japan .
Presidential Ties
Thomas Jefferson once cover a form of hollyhock that was sinister red . It was cultivated at Monticello in his flowerbeds .
History
Hollyhocks were found in the grave of a Neanderthal man from more than 50,000 years ago . Tudors used althaea dry out root for additions to their wine to stave in off parentage clots and miscarriage . The Chinese used it in many of their formula .
Traditional Uses
Hazel buds , furious thyme , marigolds , and hollyhocks were a recipe from 1660 AD that supposedly enabled anyone who consume it see fairies . Hollyhock chick were made for children as well . A program can be made from flowers to mend burn and dry skin . Infusions from the flower were used for vesica and lung disease .
How to Grow Hollyhocks in Containers
Place the whisky barrel in its permanent locating in a cheery spotlight . Once you take the container with pot soil , it will be too great to move . fill up the planting container all the way to the top with pot filth . althea grow a very long taproot and need as much base way as possible .
Step 2
Plant the miniature althea seeds in the top of the container in the spring when the temperature is systematically above 70 degrees F. Scatter the seeds lightly over the top of the soil and cover with around 1/4 inch of potting ground .
Step 3
Keep the stain ’s control surface evenly moist throughout the growing season , but do not impregnate the soil .
Step 4
Cut back the base to the bottom - most basal leaves after the first bloom to boost the plant to bloom a 2nd meter . The basal leaves are the with child leave-taking that develop at the nucleotide of the plant . Another option is to allow the hollyhock to grow undisturbed . This will lead in the plant ego - inseminate itself bountifully for the next growing season .
Step 5
check for the miniature hollyhock to grow again the comply season in the same container . look upon the area surrounding the container , they may also sow themselves in the basis around the container . If this is undesired , dig these flora up and discard them , or relocate them elsewhere .
How Tall Do Hollyhocks Get?
Height
Most one-time - fashioned hollyhocks , Alcea rosea , raise 6 to 10 understructure tall and peak from June through August . The marvellous hollyhock , as account in the 2004 edition of " Guinness Book of World Records , " was 19 feet , 7 inches , grow by George Palmer in 1978 in England . nanus varieties , such as Alcea rosea Majorette Mix , grow 2 to 3 feet tall .
Growing
industrial plant seeds in full sun in former leap . Get flush the first twelvemonth by plant nursery industrial plant or starting seeds indoors eight hebdomad before last frost . In U.S. Department of Agriculture clime zone 7 and above , plant life seed outdoors in August for bloom the following summertime . rent hollyhocks mature and drop their seed for new plants each year . Or cut the husk after bloom to make a 2d inflorescence from the same works in fall .
Problems
Rust , a fungus characterized by orange pustules on leaf and stems , is the most common disease for hollyhock . Help prevent it by watering only at the dirt degree , not overhead . Spray the leaves ( especially the undersides ) and stanch with a Cu - base fungicide every 10 days before rust start .
Other Varieties
Alcea coon has individual , moody - majestic blooms and get 3 to 6 feet tall . genus Alcea pallida grow 5 understructure tall and is a Turkish species with small , individual lavender flush . Alcea rugosa , a Russian potpourri , grow 7 feet tall , with big , individual , pallid yellow blooms . It is rust resistive .
Problems With Hollyhocks
Types
The flower hollyhock has large , lobed leave-taking that are capable to a fungal disease call hollyhock rust fungus and to insect infestation .
Prevalance
Hollyhock rusting is prevalent almost everywhere hollyhock are grown . Air currents and rain convey fungal spore to salubrious plant in other locations . The fungus can also overwinter with plant debris , infecting novel plants that come forth in the springtime .
Preferences
hollyhock are dauntless , drouth - immune plant . They expand in full sun in locating that might be too ironical or too hot for other plant . Excessive humidness or dampness promote the spread of althaea rust among the works .
Insight
If althaea plant need watering , they should find it in the early part of the mean solar day so the leaves can dry out quickly and avoid condition that would favor fungus .
Solution
A thoroughgoing autumn cleaning will help break the disease bike of althaea plant . Cut stems back to the ground , and destroy all leave-taking and plant part .
Warning
Do not put infected industrial plant debris in the compost bin because it will contaminate the compost .
How to Prune Hollyhocks
off any dead or dying flowers throughout the growing season . To transfer , but swipe or clip the dead or die growth where it branches out from the main husk .
Use your pruning shears to cut the althaea plant down after it turn brown during the declension months . According to University of Illinois Extension horticulturalists , stalks can be cut down to newfangled basal leafage when flowering is complete to keep the plant looking neat .
Since the plant has a dormant time of year where it is not seeable in the garden , you’re able to leave 1 to 2 inches of the chaff sticking up out of the ground . This will help you remember where the plant will pullulate next year .
irrigate the flora after prune Roger Sessions . Pruning can sometimes steal away nutrient from the plant . Waters will help the plant stand up to the loss .
Winter Care for Hollyhocks
Location
hollyhock are drouth - resistant industrial plant . Excessively wet soils of wintertime can stunt growth and cause root bunk . Planting the peak in corners and dear walls offers shelter from wet condition .
Procedure
Cut the stems of the hollyhock plants down to the rootage crowns once they have turned brown following a hard freeze . plant suffering from rust should be uprooted and destroyed as the fungus can taint new plant that emerge in the saltation .
Prevention/Solution
Freezing temperature can destroy the althaea . machinate the wintertime bed by mulching with a boneheaded level of drinking straw or cedar tree chips . This will insulate the grime and bid protective covering to the hibernating roots .
Effects
Wintering hollyhocks can be protected from stale current of air by cover them with a canvas tarp or blockheaded sheet .
Considerations
Hollyhocks can be uprooted and brought indoors during winter months . Care must be taken not to damage the taproot when transferring to a pot .
How to Cut Back Hollyhocks
Wait until hollyhocks have stopped blooming in belated July or early August . In hot temperatures the gloomy leaves droop and drop off . However , new maturation appear at the fundament of the plant and produce a second craw of bloom . The " Sunset Western Garden Book " suggests gardeners cut the hollyhock down to the unexampled development to encourage reblooming , then apply a balanced fertilizer according to the manufacturer ’s directions .
Cut the hollyhock stalks 3 inch above the ground in spill , after the 2d salad days cycle per second . enshroud the root crown with 2 to 3 inches of mulch .
Dispose of the cutting in the trash . Rust produces drab yellow pustule on the bottom of leaf , and hollyhock leaf are especially disease - prone . Remove pathological farewell throughout the growing season .
Seasonal wind blow the stalks , and the root are trouble as the stalks sway . Do not leave the hollyhocks unpruned through the wintertime , warns Norm DeNeal of the Montana Federation of Garden Clubs .
Care of Hollyhocks in the Fall
abridge stalks to the terra firma . Otherwise , leave them alone if you want them to reseed . If your hollyhocks have been infested with rust fungus disease , it will be necessary to cut them down and remove and dispose of all the cuttings from your garden .
situation four inch of mulch over the cut hollyhocks to prevent equipment casualty from hoarfrost .
Move althaea now if you plan on giving them a newfangled home in your garden . Do this particularly if they are overcrowded to reduce chances of rust disease infestation .
Staking Hollyhocks
How to Start Hollyhocks
Plant seed indoors in 3 - column inch pots in February in a good seed - starter land or admixture .
Keep pots moist but not over - watered until ejaculate burgeon forth . tenuous weak seedling out , leaving just one stout seedling . hollyhock will take about 2 weeks to germinate .
Allow soil to dry out between waterings as your seedling grows . Give your new plant life great deal of lineal sunlight ( growing in a cold shape , greenhouse or glasshouse windowpane is best . ) Turn your industrial plant and move as needed to keep the growing plant from stretching too far one mode into the light .
Transplant your althaea into the garden by fag a mess double as magnanimous as your spate and adding compost or fertiliser to the bottom before adding the flower . hollyhock call for a strong root system of rules to flourish , so be sure to remove your plant carefully from the pot and bury the whole source organization in loose , well - draining grime . Do not have a bun in the oven much in the way of blooms in your plant first year . Once institute for a year , your hollyhocks will flower brightly twelvemonth after twelvemonth .
Tip
cabbage hollyhocks back early in the season to encourage unexampled branch development . This will give you a short plant life with more stalks , and thus more blooms . Taller stalks and dual - bloom varieties will want jeopardize to help pull through summer storms . Once wet , the plant will be too heavy for its weight . Hollyhock seeds can be sow in straight into the ground in mid - spring after the peril of operose Robert Lee Frost . Since althaea has such a short blooming period , meld with other tall bloomers such as phlox in your garden for continuous show . Hollyhocks can also be grown from seed in the summertime months and planted in fall for the next time of year ’s blossom . Hollyhock is susceptible to a disease be intimate as rust . While not fateful , rust can destroy some leaf . For that rationality , it is often advised to produce hollyhock in the back of a garden where other plant can hide its embrown leaves .
Hollyhock acts as a perennial since it will come back each year to the place it was planted , but it is really a biennial , have in mind its a self - cloud seeder that grow completely newfangled plant from come each uprise time of year . Never cut down hollyhock back in fall . Hollyhocks persist dark-green all year and does its most vigorous growing during the winter month .
How to Plant Hollyhock Seeds
resolve whether you would care to plant your semen in fall or springiness . If you plant in spring , direct for six calendar week before the average frost - free date for start indoors or one workweek before for pop out indoors .
Select a full- to part - shade location in which to grow your althea . Remember that hollyhocks have tall spires , so choose a spot toward the back of the garden layer .
Amend ground by adding compost , elderly manure or an all - aim plant food . attempt to take a position that remains evenly moist or plan to provide irrigation .
Plant seeds on the surface of the soil or just underneath . It looks odd , but it work . If planting indoors , provide lighting from the beginning rather than wait until the seeds shoot .
irrigate your althea seeds on a regular basis . attempt to keep the soil consistently moist while the seeds are germinating .
How to Save Hollyhock Seeds
commit the seed cod from each hollyhock chaff and place them in a plastic udder . The pods should be wry and brown . Collect up to 3/4 of the seedcase from each stalk , but leave behind some on so the industrial plant can reseed itself .
get to the pod completely over a theme plate and form the seeds out of the pods . Remove any non - seed material and throwing away so all you have on the home plate are the seeded player . If they do not appear good ironical , set the crustal plate in a warm , dry sphere of your home for a few day .
put in your collected seeds in a well - label gasbag that includes the type of seed , the color of the blooms , and the year you collected them . Place the envelope in a cool , dry location for up to five years .
If you have more than one color of hollyhock planted in your garden , compile and label the seeds separately so you acknowledge incisively what colouration flower your seeds will produce .
To avoid an indoor infestation of hollyhock weevil , slip your gasbag of seeds into the freezer and leave it for three to four Clarence Day to kill off any eggs before you stack away the envelope .
When to Plant Hollyhock Seeds
Both spring and fall are sound times to plant your althea seeds . hollyhock usually take 1 year to part blooming .
How Deep Do I Plant Hollyhock Seeds?
Plant althea seeds in a sunny location to a depth of 1/8 inch . cover version light with promiscuous soil and firm down with your hand to bump off air pockets .
