Hollyhock

What does Hollyhock look like?

Hollyhocks are erect, unbranched plants that grow as annuals, biennials, or perennials. Their foliage is covered in tiny star-shaped hairs, with lobed or toothed leaves supported by long stalks. Flowers appear singly or gathered in loose clusters called racemes or fascicles. Each blossom features notched petals measuring more than three centimetres across. These petals come in a variety of shades, including yellow, white, purple, pink, red, and nearly black maroon. After flowering, the plant forms a fruit known as a schizocarp, which is a flat, dry disc split into more than fifteen individual seed-bearing segments.

Where does Hollyhock come from?

The genus Alcea belongs to the mallow family, Malvaceae, and includes over eighty separate flowering species. Its wild members are native across regions of Europe and Asia, where they established themselves in various habitats. Although North America is home to a plant known commonly as the streambank wild hollyhock, that American species actually belongs to a completely different genus rather than Alcea. Over time, gardeners selected and cultivated various wild forms, particularly the common garden species Alcea rosea, creating distinctive ornamental varieties.

When and how Hollyhock blooms

Hollyhocks are easily cultivated by sowing seeds directly in gardens. Red-blooming types are known to attract visiting hummingbirds and butterflies. However, several insects feed on the foliage. The mallow flea beetle pierces small holes through the leaves, while aphids, capsid bugs, and cutworms attack during warmer, drier weather. Larvae of painted lady butterflies and Bucculatrix moths consume the leaves as food. The plants also host several weevil species and face susceptibility to hollyhock rust, a widespread fungal condition.

How Hollyhock is used

Gardeners widely cultivate hollyhocks as showy ornamental plants. Their colorful blooms brighten outdoor borders, and varieties with red petals are often planted specifically to welcome butterflies and hummingbirds. Beyond ornamental planting, the woody stems of dried plants can be collected for use as firewood. Traditional practitioners have also utilized the roots for herbal medicinal preparations.

Kinds of Hollyhock

Breeding efforts, primarily centered around Alcea rosea, have produced several distinctive garden selections. Cultivars include 'Chater's Double', which features dense multi-layered petals, and 'Creme de Cassis', known for its raspberry-toned blooms. Another notable variety is 'The Watchman', distinguished by dramatic flowers in an exceptionally dark, near-black maroon shade.

What Hollyhock means

In Japan, the city of Kyoto celebrates the Aoi Matsuri, or Hollyhock Festival, which ranks as one of its three primary annual events. During the Victorian era, hollyhocks carried distinct meanings in the language of flowers, where people used them to symbolize both ambition and fertility. In the United Kingdom, a comprehensive National Collection of the genus is preserved by Jonathan Sheppard in Lincolnshire.

Where Hollyhock is used and seen

Cottage gardenAn informal English garden style mixing flowers, herbs, and vegetables

Traditions that use it

Where to see Hollyhock

🇬🇧 Chipping Campden · May to JulVillage open garden days in the CotswoldsSummer days when a whole Cotswold village opens its private gardens for charity, with tea and cake in the hall.

Questions people ask about Hollyhock

Good reading and sources

• USDA Plants DatabaseUS Department of Agriculture, Article
• Plants of the World OnlineRoyal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Plant database
• Where it has been recordedGBIF, Plant database
• Sightings and photos by naturalistsiNaturalist, Plant database

• Alcea on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos
• Wikidata recordOpen data