PlantFiles: Hollyhock, St. Joseph's Staff
Alcea rosea

Grows in Heat Zones 10-3.

Biennial hollyhocks can be deadheaded to prompt them to act more like perennials.

Even if you don't want to keep up with removing the maturing seedpods, keep the foliage pruned (remove and destroy the yellowing leaves and those defaced by Japanese beetles and rust. )

Prune severely in late summer, and allow new basal foliage to take over - this foliage may remain semi evergreen with snow cover or in areas with mild winter temperatures.

In the spring, remove the winter-damaged foliage. Taller forms can be pruned back before flowering to create shorter, stockier plants that don't need staking. The blooms will be smaller, but more in scale with the plant size.

Once established, these plants grow prolifically.
The seeds need LIGHT in order to germinate so do not cover them with soil, but do keep them moist. They can be started in doors and then later transplanted outside. My only problem with them is that I've planted them in the FRONT of the garden, rather than the back, where they won't hide the shorter plants. I've learned this lesson now! :-)

This plant does extremely well in a hot, dry climate. It grows naturally without any attention so enthusiastically that many people in central and southern New Mexico consider it a weed.

Although I thought my Hollyhocks were beautiful, I had to take them out. They grow very large and take up a lot of room in the garden, but my biggest concern was that they seem to be a favorite of the large and small whitefly, which are a huge problem in Southern California. The fact that there are so many leaves, coupled with the fact that many leaves are located up high out of reach, makes it very difficult to treat for the whitefly. I think this plant may do better in Northern California and elsewhere where the winters are cold enough to kill the whitefly larvae from the previous season.

Had problems with gophers killing my hollyhocks by eating the roots and under parts of the plants until I planted garlic and onions next to them. Have not been touched by them since!

Plant still needs protection from dogs walking on them. So I cut chicken wire about 6 inches high and placed around plants.

Would assume edible by deer because people can eat the flowers.

I have heard you should never transplant them, but I have not had any problems myself with transplanting as long as you do it after it has finished flowering and you are careful.

These flowers will grow like a weed in the W. Texas/E. New Mexico area. These flowers will thrive with no effort at all, in fact you may want to watch them to ensure they are only growing where you want them. These grow in almost all of my neighbors yards and that is how I obtained seed to grow them. I also bought seeds in a package, but the seeds from the nieighbor's plant germinated faster.

Hollyhocks are just a natural in historic and traditional landscapes. I sowed this biennial near some of the historic structures in our community (see images). They require little care and they bloom for several weeks.

I have Hollyhocks planted to "hide" my compost pile. When they are through blooming, I cut them back, and when they grow back, they rebloom.

Hollyhocks used to be planted around outhouses, so that ladies wouldn't need to ask where to go (no pun intended). They knew to just look for the Hollyhocks.

Enjoy these in moderation and do not allow this plant to escape your control. When we moved into this house, the garden lining the driveway was full of hollyhocks that had been allowed to run wild for years. They were lovely and we enjoyed them very much. When we cut them back at the end of the season, we discovered some evergreen shrubs and a hemlock tree that had been completely buried by the hollyhocks. It took us weeks to dig out all the heavy hollyhock roots. Now we allow no more than a couple dozen in our yard and always deadhead to reduce the volunteers.