White hollyhocks

The hollyhock is a member of the cotton and okra family, and these plants have similar packed seed capsules. The hollyhock arrived in English gardens in the 1500's, probably from Asia. In the language of flowers, hollyhocks suggested fruitfulness because of their many seeds. I've also read that the name "hock" might come from the medicinal use of the plant to reduce swelling in a horse's hind leg (called a hock.) The hollyhock has also been used for different human ailments.

This pretty white double variety came from the package of roots I planted last March. It was the only one to bloom the first year, so a nice surprise. It looks almost like a perfect gardenia or peony, but the rain will soon turn it brown.

Gardeners sometimes treat hollyhocks as "biennials" which is a nice way of saying they usually die off the second year. But I've had some tough hollyhock plants for decades, and hopefully this one will last as long. A pretty thing to look at when we take out the trash.


Old-fashioned flowers! I love them all:
The morning-glories on the wall,
The pansies in their patch of shade,
The violets, stolen from a glade,
The bleeding hearts and columbine,
Have long been garden friends of mine;
But memory every summer flocks
About a clump of hollyhocks.

from, Hollyhocks
Edgar Guest