How to do hollyhocks from seed?
rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a)
4 years ago
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Do NOT love Hollyhock 'Queeny Purple' from Parks
Comments (8)Oh no, that's terrible! You and I have done a couple of trades before; we have one this week too. Anyway, I have this growing also, but I love it! I agree that maybe you got a bad batch or something; mine are growing in a windowbox (I'm a balcony gardener, they're on my deck railing) and while they're definately dwarf (mine are only about a foot tall, but then again, they're in a container), the flowers are regular, standard, full size double hollyhock! I love the color, too. My foliage is not huge, either; each leaf is roughly the size of maybe a golf ball or chicken egg? So I'm definately pleased. . .sorry yours didn't work out. Mine are blooming now, if you'd like, I can try to save some seed for you when they do their thing later. --Amanda...See Moreproblem growing hollyhock from seeds, need advise and help
Comments (24)I wintersowed dwarf hollyhocks, mixed colors this year. I did not start them until April 7th. They are now blossoming. This variety is known to blossom the first year. A lot of other hollyhocks are biennials. They will blossom the second year. A lot of things can happen to hollyhock though. Some of my stands of hollyhock are having a difficult time with all the rain. I have rust setting in. I am busy amending all the beds with corn meal as well as the usual applications of manure. I am spraying them and cutting off the badly infected leaves. The clean up will have to be really good this year as well. I recall hollyhocks of my childhood as being a lot more carefree. They came back every year and seemed to do quite well!...See MoreHollyhocks--How much do the hummers like them?
Comments (12)Thanks, BN! That's good to hear that you have had a fairly positive experience with hollyhocks. If I hear some more good reports, maybe I'll reconsider my decision not to grow them. I still have time to make up my mind. I may grow them in an out of the way spot just to use as models for my hummer feeders. They're pretty flowers that are at least somewhat attractive to hummingbirds, and it would be fun to model them in Sculpey clay. Maybe that is enough reason to grow them. Sometimes I wonder if people have different experiences with the "same" flowers because the flowers maybe aren't really the same. Yes, they may all be single-flowered hollyhocks, the packet says so, but maybe the ones grown from one seed source have more plentiful or sweeter nectar than those from another. Even seeds within a packet might be different, or maybe sometimes one's growing conditions make the difference. So, I guess what I'm saying, is, I'm wondering if either genetic differences or growing conditions or both might account for the different experiences people have with the same flowers. There might also be habituation issues for certain birds. I'm not sure how hummingbirds decide what is most desirable. Some of it must be genetically programmed, (like an attraction to red, I suspect) but much of it is probably learned. Maybe your birds had prior good experiences with hollyhocks and it was easy for them to see yours as a food source. Maybe Penny's birds just weren't used to them, or were more used to some of her other flowers. I wonder how much research has been done on this particular aspect of hummingbird feeding behavior. I don't know how you'd go about it, but getting inside their little heads (and I mean little!) would be tough to do....See Morehow to keep hollyhocks from falling over?
Comments (6)All the other "tall" blooming things I've tried in my yard--with 4-6 hours of sun--have also flopped, Misty! And if it's getting sun till 2:00, that's probably too hot for the taller shade things! You might think about an ornamental grass--possibly one of the taller (5-6') Miscanthus's (how do you spell the plural of Miscanthus???) If you ask me any questions, I may not be back to answer! Am currently looking out the front windows of my cabin at Sleeping Ute Mountain! I can see Ute Mountain---but I CANNOT see the Sleeping Ute! That's the only reason I'm inside and on the computer! Hope it clears up some! Have a ticket for the Twilight Tour at Cliff Palace this evening--and right now it looks like we might get RAINED on!!! (And could possibly get poured on tomorrow at the Ute Mountain Tribal Park! Keep your fingers crossed for me!!!) If I think of anything else and have a chance to come back to post, I will! Skybird P.S. When I took out the hollyhocks by the side of my shed, I put in a couple German iris for early color and a couple daylilies for later color. Not as tall, but they're working pretty well in the light I have! P.P.S. Greenstem has a really good grass reference chart and I was gonna link it for you to check out, but when I clicked on the site I got a message saying: This site could harm your computer!!! Don't know what's up with that! Sorry I don't have any other good grass sites to link for you!...See MoreUser
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