I have no good advice here but maybe someone else will! I too planted a bunch of seeds this year and transplanted them several months ago. One of them is actually about 4 feet tall and blooming right now! Some of the others are still very small though...They're all getting the same amount of light, water, etc., so I'm just figuring it must depend on the variety...

I'm no hollyhock expert. This is only my 2nd year growing them. I bought some little 4" pot plants last year and they didn't really do anything. Only grew about 4-6 inches. This year has actually been the same for me except for 1. That puppy shot up to 7 feet tall and bloomed beautifully. I'm wondering if the remaining ones will just die away or if they're just taking an extra year to develope?

Squirrellypete

I don't know about seedlings, as I bought mine 3 years ago as pips. The first year, one plant grew to about a foot tall and wide. All the others were about half that size. The second year, the large plant bloomed, with bloom stalks up to 7 feet tall. The other plants grew to about 9-10 inches high, but no blooms. This year, the one huge hollyhock had tons of bloomstalks (I thought they were biennial and dies after blooming?) and the smaller ones have each had one or two bloomstalks. Are hollyhocks perennials here?

I grew them from seed and only one came up. The first year I just got some leaves, maybe 6 inches high. THe second year, I had about 4 stalks that were about 6 feet high. This year, it came back (I didn't think it would) and was over 9 feet hight with plenty of blooms. Unfortunatley it fell down in a bad storm and I had to cut most of it back, but it appears to be ready to come back next year. I have to get more for next year,I only have this one and it's yellow - not my favorite color.

Well, that's encouraging. I was starting to think all my patience was going to be for naught. I guess I'll see what happens next year.

If these bloom, I think I'll plant more babies every year. I really like hollyhocks, and they came up well from seed for me in those little peat pellet trays from Lowe's. It would be nice to have more ready to bloom every year.

To start them from seed, don't completely cover the seeds with soil. Just push them down into the soil so that they can still get some light. I have had a good germination rate doing that.

I have HHs I planted this year, and they haven't done much. I'm thinking that they might need to get used to where they are planted. We'll see.