This is my first time growing these plants I've always longed for. I wintersowed seeds from my neighbour's deep burgundy plant and one bloomed pure white, the other a very pale yellow. Do they not come true to the parent? No, they don't come true from seed. Hollyhocks cross with any other hollyhock nearby, they don't have to be in your yard but only within a bee's flight path. If a bee visits a hollyhock in your neighborhood and that pollen is still on its legs when it visits another hollyhock then crossing can and usually does occur. The white flowered plant was(or is) amazing - took off like it was on steroids - about 8 feet tall and at least 4 feet wide, with about 8 stalks which obliterated the two plants on either side. The leftmost was one little stalk with the pale yellow blooms, the other never reached maturity and is still a little leafy shrub. I am planning to cut back the stalks on the hulking monster because I understand they self-seed, but it has a nice little rosette of new leaves forming at its roots. Will this die off over winter, or do I have to dig it up? I'm in zone seven and my perennial hollyhocks maintain a semi-evergreen basal rosette of leaves. In spring I have to clean them up and pull out the gnarliest looking ones to make it a look a lot better. Some hollyhocks don't behave as perennials, they may by an annual or short-lived perennial. If you have soil that doesn't drain well in winter your hollyhock might not survive, they don't do well with "wet feet" in winter, they get crown rot and die. Also, will the little one which did not reach maturity survive the winter and bloom next summer? If it didn't bloom this year it's likely a perennial or biennial and will bloom next year. I used to live in zone 4b and our perennial hollyhocks did survive. They died entirely back to the ground and sprouted again in mid-spring, they were growing in a rock garden and had excellent drainage. My neighbor lived along a stream bank that had reseeding hollyhocks on the bank--those which were higher up on the bank suruvived winter because they had good drainage, but the hollyhocks which were closer down to the stream didn't survive because the soil was too moist during winter and early spring. The survival of perennial hollyhocks is influenced by drainage in winter--with good drainage they should survive. P.S. At first I was deeply disappointed with the white blooms, but I came to like them, they were pure-white and beautifully formed. But I don't think I really want them again. I wanted a contrast for my trumpet lilies Regale alba. N. Gardens are full of surprises, maybe you could grow another plant among the lilies and hollyhocks to accent them both. Lilies often have a dark purple hue on the backs of their petals, maybe some plum-toned flowers or vines will help pull it all together for you. Trudi

I grow Schick hybrids, most are not as tall as that one, and darker green, though the spines and ribs seem the same, and the Schick hybrids do have all of the species in them that is mentioned above, including Rebutia. Well not quiet all of them. And they can be figured out by the flower, if you have the flower chart in color to do so. Keep your labels make duplicate copies of them, and put one in the bottom of the pot. Not all of them look alike, some hardly have any spines, and others have long ones, Bob Schick used to tell them apart by looking at them. Sorry for such a long post, Echinopsis are grown just like any other cactus and need the same care, for flowering give them a low 0-20-10 fertilizer approx. The middle number must be higher, the first number very low. No water in the Winter, they must have the chill and dormant periods to flower. They are extremely hardy, will flower 6 mo. at least of the year from the end of April to the end of Sept. depending on you climate, light where you grow them, feeding. May open 4 nights depending on light. Norma

First plant is aloe Vera, not an agave... The plant in question looks like San Pedro, does it have roots?

Hello Bulletz: I think that you have probably missed your window of opportunity to move a hollyhock in blooming mode. They have extensive root systems which would inevitably be damaged were you to try and dig it up... the good news is that 1. they are pretty good about not being knocked over by strong winds and 2. they are biennials: they only really work well for two years. The first year they are just leaves and the second year they bloom. Thereafter you are lucky for whatever you get. Sow your seeds now in small pots and plant them in your preferred spot this fall for bloom next year. Works every time!