Super Hollyhocks!

My in-laws lifted their house and put a basement underneath in 2006. As a result of the construction, all of the gardens around the foundations had to go. Anticipating a garden make-over, the majority of the plants were taken to the compost/dump. (seems so sacrilegious....)

Anyway, on a subsequent trip to said dump, my husband (Luke) and I happened to see two or three hollyhocks standing tall in full bloom among the piles of discarded yard waste, as if to say "You can't get rid of us that easily!" Knowing my mother-in-law wanted hollyhocks for her Victorian / English garden, we came back with black plastic pots and shovels. The base and root ball (yes, root ball) was quite big so they were growing at the dump for at least a year. They barely fit in our largest pot, a #15, I think.

The garden where the hollyhocks were to be wasn't quite ready for plants, so we plopped the pot in a spot where it would be out of the way of the final construction touch-ups until we could plant them before winter. Ah, the best laid plans of mice and men.... The hollyhocks remained in that out-of-the-way spot, toughing out our Minnesota winter in a pot above ground...and in spring I was amazed to find new growth. They had survived. That summer (2007) turned out to be their dormant year so no flowers but lots of leafy and rooty growth.

June 13, 2010 - Me in the hollyhocks. I'm 5'6".

2007 came and went, and so did many other projects that claimed priority over the hollyhocks. In 2008 it was time to transplant them to their final home. We dragged the #15 pot to the other end of the house and properly planted them. That year they had a small flower show - the flower stalks weren't much higher than three feet. .

That year we started seeing some plants springing up in that out-of-the-way spot where the pot had been. Baby hollyhocks! We allowed them to grow where they were, treating the area as an unofficial nursery. 2009 came, the babies got taller and added more leaves. The original plant, uh, plants, also grew taller and added many more leaves. Again its dormant year, it looked more like a hollyhock bush.

Enter 2010. This year we began revamping the gardens along the sidewalk and one of the projects was to transplant the baby hollyhocks to the garden with the original hollyhock. The babies had sent up the first flowers stalks of their young lives.
Note: It is not a good idea to transplant hollyhocks while in bloom, nor is it a good idea to bare root said hollyhocks during the transplanting process. Ours survived, but barely. Fall is a better time for transplanting hollyhocks.

June 13, 2010 - Almost 7' tall

The big hollyhock pulled out all the stops this year. The foliage was almost three feet tall by the end of May and had at least 24 flower stalks that were 4 1/2 tall and covered with buds. June came and the stalks kept growing...5 1/2 feet tall ....6 feet.... the tallest stalk actually grew 6 inches in one night - no lie!.... the first color peeked out at 6 1/2 feet... 7 feet....

June 13, 2010 - 6' 8 1/2" tall

July 1, 2010 - Over 8' tall

When Luke and I returned from a three week vacation, we came back to a giant hollyhock over 8 feet tall in full pink and white blooming glory. Luke is 6'4" and he can't reach the top of the flower stalks!





July waned into August and its intense heat and humidity. The majority of the flowers have long since faded away and are now setting seed, but there are a few late bloomers that are pleasant to see.

August 11, 2010 - 10' 2" tall

Today, I measured the tallest flower stalk at 10 feet 2 inches tall.

August 11, 2010

I know hollyhocks are tall, but is this normal?!