Publication: Garden Guides
Hollyhock, An Old-Fashioned Favorite | |
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GardenGuides Newsletter
August 1, 2006
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Rules of Thumb for Water Use on Lawns and Gardens
One deep watering is much better than watering several times
lightly.
Lawns need about 1 inch of water each week. If the weather
is very hot, apply an inch of water about every 3 days.
Watering to a depth of 4-6 inches encourages deeper, health-
ier root development. It allows longer periods between
watering.
To measure the water, put an empty tuna can (or cat food
can) on the lawn while watering. Stop watering when the can
is full or if you notice water running off the lawn.
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Hollyhock, An Old-Fashioned Favorite
By Kate Jerome
I grew up making hollyhock dolls from my grandmother's
hollyhocks. There was something special about the tissue-
paper petals in soft pastel hues. And something grand about
the 8-foot-tall flower spikes that give such tremendous
stature and architecture to the perennial garden.
My grandmother referred to these old-fashioned favorites as
biennials, yet they came up every year. I never gave the
mechanics of these lovely plants a thought until I planted
them at the edge of my vegetable garden a few years ago.
From Seed to Bloom
Hollyhocks (Alcea rosea) are true biennials, taking two
years to complete a life cycle. A biennial plant spends the
first year producing a sturdy elaborate root system with
only a simple rosette of leaves aboveground. The leaves die
back to the ground in winter, and the root system goes
quietly to sleep.
The following spring, the plant awakens to send up a flower
stalk to produce blossoms and seeds. At the end of this
second season, the plant usually dies, having completed the
task of spreading its seeds.
In my vegetable garden, the hollyhocks bloom continually all
summer, and begin scattering ripe seeds in midsummer. The
seeds germinate and produce a family of seedlings all around
the mother plants.
Continued...
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These seedlings get their first year's growth in late summer
and fall, and then the following year send up blossom stalks.
Now that I have the cycle set up, I have plants blooming
every year. I started with only maroon-flowered plants, but
they freely cross-pollinate, giving me luscious tints and
hues of pink, maroon, apricot, and white.
There is nothing quite like a hollyhock to add color to the
back of a perennial border. Their large tropical leaves add
substance, and the spires of crepe-paper blossoms in all
hues of rose, red, pink, salmon and even darkest purple-
black (my favorite) add unrivaled drama.
Hollyhocks thrive in full sun and average to poor soil, and
basically take no care other than to enjoy the blooms. They
do have a pesky bug that tends to turn the leaves to lace,
but planting them in a situation with other plants to hide
the lower part of the stalks works beautifully.
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