Get Planting .... hollyhocks
Sowing and planting in the cooler, moister days of late summer always makes sense. Plants placed in the ground now continue to grow and make root, so they perform much more strongly in spring, while seeds of biennials and short-lived perennials sown in the next three weeks will yield plantlets raring to go by the new year.
Hollyhocks, Alcea rosea, are a case in point, whether you plant them out from pot-grown stock from nurseries or sow seeds now and overwinter young potted plantlets in a frame for planting out next spring. Although much admired for their stately spires of circular single or double blossoms and a staple of cottage gardens for over a century, many are a martyr to rust disease, which erupts beneath the foliage and covers stems with orangecoloured pustules like measles.
Appearing more forcibly in the second year, it weakens the plant, rather than kills it, so it pays to keep renewing stock every two to three years to avoid the problem. You can spray fungicides, such as Fungus
Clear Ultra, but repeated applications will be required. Thankfully some varieties are more resistant, particularly those bred from
Alcea ficifolia, such as ‘Antwerp Mixed’ and ‘Burgundy Towers’, and the distinctive Halo Series, with bi-coloured blooms from apricot, through pink to red.
Unfortunately, old double varieties, such as the Chaters range, are susceptible. For something different with the hollyhock look, purchase a plant of Alcalthaea suffrutescens ‘Parkallee’, one of a small series of sterile hybrids between a hollyhock and mallow, Althaea officinalis, again with enhanced rust resistance.
Hollyhocks prefer moist, welldrained soil in full sun, in neutral to slightly alkaline soil. Avoid feeding as over fertile conditions and shade stimulates lush, weaker growth that requires staking.