Hollyhock, Alcea rosea - Summer Plant Gallery

Hollyhocks, Alcea rosea - these are a classic cottage garden plant for the back of the border. This is an example of the original plant type, a large plant, 6 to 8 feet tall with simple single flowers in a pastel shade. There are a large number of modern cultivars available that may be shorter, have double flowers and with a wider range of flower colours. I find myself somewhat of a purist in these matters however and prefer the original type as I do in with plants. They frequently suffer from rust which is something it's easier to live with removing badly affected plants and leaves than it is to fight.

Hollyhocks are short-lived perennials that will readily self-seed. This is one of the colony in my garden which have been there for the last 10 years since I bought a single packet of seed. If you let them self seed like this, they will often self-select to a particular type in my case, they are shades of pink from pale to almost red. If you want a particular range of colours or height etc. you will have to be a bit more pro-active. I happen to have exactly what I'd choose to have any way. Birds love the seeds in late autumn and early winter, and they will help distribute the seeds with their messy eating habits.

Hollyhocks come from Europe and Asia and while we think of them as typically English cottage garden plants, they also have another life as typically Asian plants too. They will grow right up against walls which makes them useful as not many large plants will do this well. In the foothills of the Himalayas in Nepal (so I am told) they are used for practical as well as aesthetic reasons. They are planted right up close against house walls where they help to dry the soil and prevent damp from wicking up the plaster-work (or whatever it is made of) so protecting the house.

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