0021 10 Pink Hollyhocks

These are such a warm colour, lovely!

Have to agree with the others, they are such a pretty colour.

Julia: your garden is too commodious! These flowers are not happy in deep rich soil...at least in the long run. These came from sweepings from the floor of the greenhouse before I moved it and the "soil" is sharpsand and crushed limestone! The best and tallest I've seen were growing in gravel scree at the end of a disused parking lot in full sun! a wildflower ground cover called Creeping Charlie, and one called Creeping Jenny grow like a carpet over the soil and pose no competition to the hollyhock and protect the leaves of the hollyhock from back splash when it rains... they seem to require very little moisture and the CC and CJ hold some moisture for their own use. it's a symbiosis which produces a wonderful result!
Kate and Anget: thanks! I have all the colours this year, except the very dark (black) ones. a very deep wine red, a pure lemon yellow, a soft peach, and a variety of stunning pinks... all are singles, which I prefer, and one lovely peachy pink has fringed petals.

Great advice re growing these Lori. Explains why they always do gloriously up against garden or house walls! Are they not one of the most cheering flowers? I love them!

That's the spirit, Julia! "a neglected patch"!!! :-))
Karen: Yes they are cheering... so pretty and carefree. It took me a few seasons to get them established and an almost inexhaustible supply of seeds. (from another GoY friend and from my sister) I have them established in almost every flower patch in my acres... they definitely have preference for lots of sun and lousy soil! my first batch were in a newly prepared flower bed.. they came up and bloomed beautifully but didn't establish as well as the "sweepings" did in the old driveway!

they look stunning Lori ,We have villages round here where they grow through pavements / concrete they do cope well with compacted ground ..