Good morning! It’s Wednesday, and the recent heatwave has prompted several garden inhabitants to lurch forward in their annual mission to be fruitful and multiply.
I once grew hollyhock, but it was a one time event. Hollyhocks are a quintessentially gorgeous flower to highlight a garden. It's shady at my house, thus unsettling for flower dreams. But, raspberries and gooseberries were harvested today. It's a wonderful life!
I had to go back and read your other two posts on Hollyhocks. Lovely! If memory serves me right I remember my grandma (and maybe both grandmas!) having Hollyhocks and I think it was one of the earliest flowers I learned to identify. We don't have any Hollyhocks but I am going to see what I can do to remedy that.
Oh how excellent! If you plant a new batch among the blooming ones next year, you'll get the biennial bloom to happen each year, which is quite nice. (I'm sure you already knew this, it was just a revelation to me when I figured it out...)
I love hollyhocks! They used to thrive outside our kitchen window when my daughters were babies. I entered the best of the bunch in our county fair. Your photo and description transported me back to that time. What a gift. Thanks, Clara.
I miss having hollyhocks! We had a great spot for them at the old house. But I went to visit my pollinator garden that was supposed to be a dye garden yesterday and there are some glorious blooms! I let two mullein stay and they are taller than I am, along with false sunflower, rudbeckia and two native bee balms.
There is supposed to be goldenrod but the deer keep eating it.
Love, love, love my hollyhocks!
Thanks for the close-up of a gorgeous hollyhock! I never knew they have that insane explosive center - like fireworks. WOW!
I love Hollyhocks!!!! Those blooms with such magnificent colors!!!!!
I once grew hollyhock, but it was a one time event. Hollyhocks are a quintessentially gorgeous flower to highlight a garden. It's shady at my house, thus unsettling for flower dreams. But, raspberries and gooseberries were harvested today. It's a wonderful life!
Ahhh, it's berry time!
You have a very busy garden! The hollyhocks make me think of M. Habit and his fancy dress balls in Paris.
So true!
I had to go back and read your other two posts on Hollyhocks. Lovely! If memory serves me right I remember my grandma (and maybe both grandmas!) having Hollyhocks and I think it was one of the earliest flowers I learned to identify. We don't have any Hollyhocks but I am going to see what I can do to remedy that.
Beautiful!
This year I planted 3 hollyhocks in our garden. I’m already so excited for next year to see the blooms! The flowers are so fancy and beautiful.
Oh how excellent! If you plant a new batch among the blooming ones next year, you'll get the biennial bloom to happen each year, which is quite nice. (I'm sure you already knew this, it was just a revelation to me when I figured it out...)
Oh, what a fabulous idea. Nope, I had no idea that I should do that; but it makes perfect sense. Thanks so much!!
I love hollyhocks! They used to thrive outside our kitchen window when my daughters were babies. I entered the best of the bunch in our county fair. Your photo and description transported me back to that time. What a gift. Thanks, Clara.
Did you ever make hollyhock “ladies”? My friends and I used to make several and have a tea party!
I miss having hollyhocks! We had a great spot for them at the old house. But I went to visit my pollinator garden that was supposed to be a dye garden yesterday and there are some glorious blooms! I let two mullein stay and they are taller than I am, along with false sunflower, rudbeckia and two native bee balms.
There is supposed to be goldenrod but the deer keep eating it.
1. Mullein as dye plant?! I had no idea! We have bumper crops growing along the road, I may have to pay it a visit.
2. Deer eat goldenrod?! IS NOTHING SAFE??? ((🤣))
Actually I haven’t tried dyeing with mullein, I just like to see it - so tall and bold and the flowers are bright and cheery.
And the answer is NO. Nothing is safe from the deer. They have left the echinacea for now but they ate my rhubarb and my nicotania!
Holy moly, maybe you should just buy a feeding trough and leave it full at the corner of your yard?
It would have to be a really big trough!!! There is a group of at least two dozen who hang out around here.
I remember those, too!
We used to make "dolls" with toothpicks and the various stages from buds to dropped "skirts." A nice memory to start the day with. Thank you!