Hmmm. I believe some, if not most, hollyhocks are biennial, which means they need to go through a true winter/dormant season in order to bloom their second season. I'm not absolutely positive on this, but it seems that's how my own hollyhocks acted when I first planted them several years ago.

I'm only in zone 8a here, but the hollyhocks do lose their lower leaves as they grow new ones from the top.

I have a few zebrina hollyhocks, a native or species type.

They never go dormant, & they do eventually bloom;
first year, they grow leaves,
first winter, they sit there like big green blobs,
second year, they flower & make seed.

I'd hang in there & see what happens the second year.

Best luck!

Thanks for the advice. The company that distributes the seeds claims that all the species it sells will grow in a tropical climate, but I get worried when I keep seeing it listed as a temperate plant.

The 'Summer Carnival' strain is supposed to bloom in its first year, which is why I'm particularly worried.

This is a little off topic. I'm thinking of a Singapore move. Would customs allow me to mail or carry some small acai palms in?

Thanks Sylvia for posting on my acai threads with the guy spamming out his website. It makes our informational forums silly when these people make usernames and advertize.

i'm not so sure about mail, but for carrying plants the following website might help:

http://www.ava.gov.sg/InformationForTravellers/BringPlants/index.htm

i found that by following links from the singapore customs website, as below:

http://www.customs.gov.sg/leftNav/trav/dut/Controlled+Goods.htm

hope that helps. meanwhile my hollyhocks continue neither to bloom nor to grow taller, but there are these little green nubs at the nodes where the lower leaves are (or were) and i'm not sure what they are. new leaves? or are they finally putting out flower stalks?

alphard

Can you post photos?

The nubs might be the beginnings of new leaves or they might be buds.

here are some photos. as you can see i still have pretty much no stem.

detail here:

the green bits grow out of the stem just at the base of where the old leaves were. it's been a month since i took these photos and there's been no change in the situation, so i guess maybe they're not buds. but they don't grow out like leaves either. what are they?