Hollyhocks
Supernanauna
Posts: 61
in Plants
I've had hollyhocks this year for the first time ever. Is it possible to plant the seeds once they've died back and grow some more? They have a lot of what appear to be seed pods.
Thanks,
Una.
0
Posts
Those nobbly buttons are seed pods.
Hollyhocks should be perennial (last for several years). The seeds can certainly be used to raise new plants, although the new plants won't necessarily be the same colour as the parents. If you simply leave the seeds pods by themselves they may self-seed. Whether they will self-seed depends on what kind of soil you have. I have a clay soil, so hollyhocks don't grow well here, and don't self-seed easily here. It's probably more reliable to collect the seed, and raise some small plants, then you can put the new plants where you'd like them to go.
The good news is that mine do come back the following year and you can collect seeds and sow them. As with all seed collection it is the timing that is the difficult bit and mine get a bit untidy while I wait.
So do I collect the seed pods now or wait? Do I split the pods open or plant them as they are? And would it be ok to just plant them in pots in ordinary compost to wait for next Spring? I sound like a complete idiot but I've waited for years to have hollyhocks and would like to have them again, if I can. I don't have a greenhouse or shed, by the way.
Thanks,
Una.
I wait for them to go brown and then harvest them, a pod should split into lots of seeds. I would mix some sand/grit/perlite in with the compost. I do both I sow some now to see if I can get an early start and protect them in a cold frame/greenhouse. I also have sown them in spring and one year they flowered that year.
I love Hollyhocks but every time I try them they get rust.
Are there some varieties that are rust resistant?
I haven't considered them for some years, but would like to give them another go.
I love hollyhocks. I think they are the quintessential cottage-garden flower. I prefer the single varieties, which are hard to buy as plants, so I've raised all mine from seed, from T&M.
I've also taken many snaps, of hollyhocks growing in other people's gardens, throughout Warwickshire. This is not my front door, it's a house in the main street in Henley-in-Arden....
Can't you just hear the bees buzzing when you look at that pic!
This year I started using slug pellets on Valentine's Day and made sure to use them on a regular basis and it really seemed to help - I don't think I gave them a chance to breed. So will do the same next year.
I think Carol Klein told us that hollyhocks are in the mallow family and slugs don't like them. Am I remembering correctly. It was on a recent GW programme. I've grown some from seed this year and they are all un-munched.
Thanks very much break23, will look out for them when next at the garden centre.
Chris