Alcea / Althaea

An old fashioned cottage garden favourite. Hollyhocks are short-lived perennials or biennials.

The tall showy spires of single or fully double flowers grow up to 8ft (2.5m) tall, and come in a wide range of colours including soft pinks, apricots, lemons, cerise, white, deep reds and purplish-black. The flowers attract butterflies, bees and other insects such as hoverflies.

Due to their impressive stature Hollyhocks are best grown at the back of the border, or along a fence or wall, where they add to the vertical dimension of the garden.

Hollyhocks associate well with other cottage garden favourites such as delphiniums, lupins and achillea.

Varieties: -


Alcea. rosea	syn Althaea rosea A genus of biennials and short lived perennials grown for their tall spikes of flowers. Chaters Double: Biennial Majorette: An erect biennial grown as an annual Height 24in (60cm) and Spread 12in (30cm) Rough textured, rounded and lobed, pale green leaves. Producing spires of rosette-like double flowers in a variety of colours from mid summer through to early autumn. Summer Carnival: Gown as either an annual or biennial Height 6-8ft (1.8-2.4m) and Spread 2ft (60cm) Producing double flowers in a wide range of colours.

Hollyhocks make an impressive addition to any garden, providing a positive vertical statement that few other plants can match The range of colours allow for a pastel shades background that will show off dark shades of delphiniums and other similarly darkly shaded plants. Whilst conversely the darker shades of Hollyhock flowers allow for a background to be produced that will show off the pastel shades of foreground planting. My only complaint with respect to Hollyhocks is that they harbour rust, which can infect other plants such as antirrhinums etc.

Cultivation: -

Grows in any well drained reasonably fertile soil, and prefers full sun. To ensure that the plants are not knocked down in exposed sites they should be supported with stakes.

Hollyhocks are best treated as biennials/annuals to limit the spread of hollyhock rust, which causes orange pustules to develop on the leaves. if possible old plants should be burnt rather than composted.

Propagation: -

Sow seed of annuals at 13 deg centigrade in late winter or early spring where it is intended that they will grow. Biennials should be sown in mid-summer where they will flower, and thinning of excess plants or transplanting being done in autumn.