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It's gross and all the leaves are affected. I see the little fella chomping away but are the pustules another problem altogether or did these little green guys hatch out of those brown lesions. Hard to believe they would have survived the systemic insect killer to mature to this stage. And I've tried a fungicide. Nothing seems to stop this from spreading from one bed to another.
This particular plague seems to have affected only the hollyhocks. Even the ones that bloomed were infested/infected and stand leafless brewing their seeds.
Here's a photograph of the beastie doing his thing on the hollyhock leaf. I wasn't able to get a shot of him (her?) as he was seemingly eating (or holding onto) the leaf. He's about a 1/2" long, maybe less.
The pustules look like rust (and have nothing to do with the caterpillar). Many hollyhocks are very prone to rust, and unfortunately it's one of those things that if you wait until you see symptoms, it's usually too late to get rid of it that year. If you search about controlling rust, there are some things that you can spray early in the season to help prevent it, and making sure to clean up the rusty leaves at the end of the year can help keep it from coming back. The good news is it's not normally fatal and it's also fairly specific in terms of the plants it affects so it's not likely to spread all over your garden, but the bad news is plants that are prone to it will often get it no matter what you do--even if you do the preventative measures it's not a guarantee. There are some cultivars that are more resistant to rust than others, so if it's a big recurring problem for you and it really bothers you, then I would look for rust resistant varieties.
