It really doesn't matter what Hollyhock you wish to grow, unfortunately the risk of getting rust is always there since the culprit can be in the soil, seed, or plant and not be seen until the plant gets big enough for you to have a nice hole in the garden if you take it out. I love these plants and was told that the fig leaf variety did not get rust. NOT! It does. :( I also grow Alcea Kurdica, and Alcea Rugosa which were not suppose to have rust but did. Another relative, Althaea Officinalis (Marshmallow Plant) also used to show signs of rust. The trick for me was to apply corn meal to the soil and treat any signs of rust with garlic oil. At the end of the season, all stems were cut back and wilted foliage was removed when the plant disappeared for the winter. Good compost and corn meal was applied as a mulch. This was repeated again in the spring when the plants emerged. In the first year I began treating the rust, I sprayed any rust with garlic oil spray - you can find recipes by googling. Simple to make and apply. If the problem was too bad, I would cut the plant back, but not remove it. Just start over again. This summer, I've not had to do the garlic thing for HH rust. (Did some anyway as I found it also deters deers...) The results have been good. I am now growing nice healthy looking Hollyhocks.

Well thanks everyone for the reply. Charleney- I'm looking into Bayer disease control. Then I saw the Bayer 3 in 1 control and I thought that would be great for the rust and the weevils. But I'm a little concerned about the Bee Decolonization effect. So I'm still deciding on that. Docmom- my hollyhohcks are perennials. I started all of them from seed. The first year, the plant and foliage grows. Then it dies back in the fall and I cut everything down. The second year it blooms. I cut the stalks and they rebloom at least one more time, just fewer blooms on each rebloom. And then each year they keep coming back. That's why I love them. A lot of bang for your buck once they're established. And, this is my very first year with rust, so usually that's not a problem for me.

Brian, Ironically, I wasn't too bothered by the poisonous snakes when we first moved here. If I saw a copperhead or rattler, I tended to walk around it and not worry about it. After we'd been here about 3 years, though, our next-door neighbor was bitten by a copperhead....and to make matters worse, it wrapped itself around her ankle and wouldn't let go. You cannot imagine what that sweet lady went through with that copperhead bite....including being in a wheelchair for over a month. So, I became more scared of them as time went on. And, because I had been a Cub Scout leader and a Boy Scout leader when our son was younger, I was used to seeing all kinds of snakes on hikes and campouts and wasn't bothered by them. After the black rat snakes started killing all my baby chicks and keats, though, I started liking them less and less. So, here at our place, we have a snake compromise. Any snake found in the chicken coop or guinea coop is a dead snake, because it is a threat to our baby birds. Any poisonous snake found on the acre of land closest to the house is a dead snake because it is a threat to the people and pets. The remaining 13.5 acres can be a snake paradise for all I care, and the snakes there are very heavy some years. I generally stay out of the woods during snake season, which is roughly April through October/November here. However, one year I had a close encounter with a pygmy rattler in February, so sometimes that snakes are out a lot earlier than expected. And, I still like the rough green tree snakes. Last year there was one in the front yard and the cats were trying to play with it, so I covered it up with a bucket (couldn't bring myself to touch it) to protect it until the cats got bored and wandered off. Then I took the bucket off the snake and it slithered off to wherever. We also have glass lizards here that look a lot like snakes and I like them. My next-door neighbor, who's lived here all his life, is constantly warning me to watch out for the venomous snakes because he has seen so many people bitten by them over the decades. Because we are so close to the Red River, we will always have snakes, so I just try to avoid them for the most part. There's almost always snakes in my veggie garden though. The timber rattlers really do scare me. They aren't aggressive at all but my Rottweiler-Terrier mix dog, Duke, almost died when one bit him when he was 7 months old. Then I had the horrible encounter with one this summer. This year I had more snake encounters in a two-week period in the fall than I'd had in the last 2 years, so maybe this year I'll catch a break. I never have a bee shortage here, so the kiwi would be in good shape if I grew them. However, I grew up and lived my first 39 years in North Texas where everyone, especially fairly new gardeners, ordered kiwi fruit vines, planted them and then lost them the first year. Texas A&M University has long maintained that "kiwi fruit will not grow here", and I've never known anyone in Texas or in southern OK who's had any luck with them. I do know some people who've managed to keep them alive for a couple of years, but they've never gotten fruit. There's a couple of reasons why. Our August heat, which generally has some days that exceed 105 and often has several days that exceed 110, is usually just too much for it, especially since most Augusts are very dry here. Also, I have no idea if cotton root rot is a problem in soils in the Tulsa area, but it is common in our soils here in southern OK and northern TX and cotton root rot kills kiwi plants. I have a huge problem with cotton root rot in our soil and partly that is because our land used to be part of a cotton farm. So, if there is a plant I want to plant that is susceptible to cotton root rot, I have to plant it in heavily amended soil and, even then, I know the odds are against its survival. I goggled and found you the OSU Fact Sheet on Growing Kiwi in Oklahoma and linked it below. I haven't read it yet, so I don't know if it will encourage you or discourage you. : ) Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Kiwi in Oklahoma

Since the fungus can overwinter in plant debris, you DO want to start spraying as early as possible (with prior rust experience) and in 7-10 day increments, weather depending. Any fungicides registered to control rust are only preventative so you need to start spraying before any signs of the disease appear. The other critical element is to offer the best possible cultural conditions - plenty of sun, good air circulation, any necessary irrigation and nutrient supplementation and most importantly, good garden sanitation. Get rid of and destroy all affected plant material and mulch the soil well over winter.