Ilene, how cool! It sure looks beautiful for a wedding party! I had lots of hollyhocks at one time, but they had to come out so I could have more room for my butterfly host plants. Hollyhocks are supposed to be a host for the Painted Ladies, but I never found one on mine. I grew the Chater Doubles (variety of colors, double blooms) and the black hollyhock.

Susan

Susan, I planted black hollyhock this year, but of course they won't bloom till next. Also planted some Mystic Merlin, peach, and some mixed double ones. So if they survive this year I'll have quite a show next year, all along that fence.

Being retired is great! This is probably the best time of my life 'cause I don't have to work for someone else any more. Now if I just wasn't old.....

Beautiful!

We have several growing right in the middle of our front yard, and they're so big my wife wants to pull them out. I may ask her to wait until they are done flowering, and then move them to the back yard along the fence...

Your hollyhocks are so lovely! I bet they were a lovely backdrop for photos of the wedding party.

This year I went mostly with Queeny Mix dwarf hollyhocks for the simple reason that the deer usually get all my taller hollyhocks, but for some reason, they don't eat the dwarf ones. So, have the deer eaten any hollyhocks this year? Not a one. Not even the few taller ones that I still have, and the deer have been in the garden every night for the last two weeks, except for the last two nights. (On Sat. night, the dogs and I went outside in the dark at 5 a.m. and chased them off before they got into the garden--they were right outside the fence. Last night they didn't make it inside, even though only half the garden has the new taller fence completed.) The taller hollyhocks have been blooming for some time, but the Queeny Mix only started last week, and they look really good....but short. Somehow, several dozen dwarf hollyhocks in bloom lack the pizzazz of several dozen full-sized hollyhocks in bloom. : )

We're putting up a new fence this week to keep the deer out, so this fall I can plant more tall hollyhocks for next spring, and I am going to plant every single kind I have seed for or can find seed for!

Dawn

How pretty, Ilene. Hollyhocks are my favorite flower of the year since it's my first year to grow them successfully. I feel like a real gardener, now, since I've had the patience to wait out that first year of no flowers. I have the black ones in my back flower bed and one of the double ones in front. My daughter saw the black ones last night and said, "Wow, Mom. What did you feed them?"

LOL, Okprairie. Isn't it funny what kids come up with?

Dawn, you do have a challenge on your hands with those deer. They are such beautiful animals, it's a shame they're so destructive.

Ssimon, your hollyhocks will do better along a fence as they need something for support when they get loaded with flowers. I have collected the seed from my hollyhocks each year, but generally I don't have to plant it. They plant themselves, and surprise you with what colors they are!

OKPrairie, Your daughter is so funny. I hope you told her you had to feed them special food and go to a lot of extra effort to get the black ones to bloom. (Thomas Jefferson grew them at Monticello, I think.)

Ilene, Some years the deer are a very, very minor problem, some years they have been fairly major, and this year they have been incredibly destructive. So far, they have eaten most of my okra, all my watermelons, about half of my pepper plants (they only ate the ones that produce peppers edible peppers, and not the ornamental ones), half of the pumpkins, all of the squash and zucchini, many of the sunflowers, and have eaten tomato plants wherever a stray stem or limb stuck out into the pathway. They have NOT touched the beans or hollyhocks, which is odd. I guess different deer have different tastes because often the hollyhocks are the first thing to go. They also haven't eaten any of the herbs or potato foliage.

So, we're raising the fence to 7', and the poles are 9' tall, so we can add 2' to 3' more if we have to.

Usually the deer are only a problem in mid-winter and mid-summer. The deer are the reason I stopped growing cabbage, cauliflower, spinach and broccoli as winter/spring crops because they would eat every single plant. Now, with the new fence, maybe I can grow them again. In mid-summer, usually about July or early August, they start visiting the garden and eating sunflowers (flowers, stalks and leaves), okra, hollyhocks and pumpkins. This year, the destruction started in mid- to late-May and got worse every night. Perhaps the reason is that we have been so very dry.....our pastures look AWFUL in some parts of the county.

And, I make it worse by feeding them deer corn in the winter because I cannot bear to see them starve. AND, before I began putting our deer corn for them, they would come up to the house and eat leaves off the evergreen shrubs AND small limbs and twigs off the trees. Since I've been feeding them, they have stopped eating the landscape plants in winter.

We have one neighbor between us and the river and deer cause him a whole lot more problems than they cause us, AND he still feeds them in the winter too because he is soft-hearted like me.

This is the first year since we moved here that my hollyhocks have not been at least partially devoured by the deer, and I an really enjoying having them for a prolonged period of time.

Dawn

Very pretty Hollyhocks,

I had a lot on my back yard (hollyhocks), years ago, but I have a dog who loves to dig, My flowers moved to the front of the house, where now my back yard is just for the dogs.
No flowers in the back anymore, just grass now.
from the move I only have one Hollyhock plant that lived, which was a white flowered one.
With the crazy winds we have been receiving down in Southern OK, I walked outside and my hollyhocks where on the ground... they are now tied back up..

I just can't get over how tall yours are, and to see them still standing tall.. very nice!

I love that Thomas Jefferson grew them, Dawn. He liked nasturtiums, too, I have heard/read. It's so interesting to read about his gardening and agricultural experiments.

OkPrairie - I'll have to use something to that effect when my granddaughter asks about my plants! I'll tell her I feed them veggies like broccoli, Peas, green beans, cauliflower (anything she doesn't like right now), and that they grow tall and strong! Think that will entice her?

I LOVE hollyhocks and grew them for a long time b4 I got into Butterfly gardening. I don't have much sun space, so gave them up for nectar and host plants. I sure love them, though. I'd really like to grow the perennial fig-leaf hollyhock.

I like most cottage garden plants. My big blue hydrangea is blooming like crazy right now (only the blooms are lavendar and pink cuz I didn't acid feed it this spring). I love their blowsy, laid back look. Not much else I grow is cottage gardeny, though, except for my zinnias, salvias, and cosmos.

Oh my - my new aster oblongifolius (fragrant aster) is putting on blooms! What in the world is happening this year?

Susan

Thomas Jefferson also grew Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate, or so I'm told. I have one beginning to bloom, but it's not as showy as pictures I've seen of it. Maybe later on in the season, though. I just love the old flowers, they're so victorian. My grandmother had a passion vine growing on a trellis on her front porch when I was a little girl. I think I'm going to try to get one started next year. This year I bought Cup and Saucer vine seed, wintersowed them and went through the whole rigamarole. Two came up, I babied them along and planted them when the got to a decent size, then they drowned. I learned somewhere along the way that they aren't winter hardy in my zone and that sometimes they take two seasons to actually put on flowers, so I may have been disappointed with them, anyway. I know Passion Flower will live in this zone because it came back for Grandma every year and that was in Iola, KS! From now on, before I order perennial seed, I'm going to pay particular attention to whether it's a perennial IN MY ZONE.

And yes, I do need to work on the drainage thing. I'll tell you one plant that just seems to keep bouncing back, is Cleome. I've planted several in a spot where they have been covered in water about 4 times and they are still alive and growing. Now that I've said that, I've probably jinxed them.

kirts, I am also surprised that my hollyhocks are still standing! I usually have to tie them to the fence. I think maybe it is because they are planted so close together, they are keeping each other from falling down??? The ones that are growing on the inside of the fence, we had to put a barricade around because our dog kept peeing on them. He had the bottom leaves all yellowed, but they grew well, anyway. One of the persons who walks the park told me her mother always had hollyhocks growing in front of the out-house, and said she thought maybe hollyhocks like to be pee'd on. LOL

I read a story that was set when language was much more refined that it is in our day and it said that it was customary to plant hollyhocks around the outhouse. Guests would then ask, "Where are your hollyhocks," when nature called. I guess it became a real custom in the prairie states.

SG - I have heard that story! Heehee!

You might think about underplanting something around your hollyhocks, too, that would give them some additional support.

I tried Cup and Saucer Vine 3 times, and they would about 8-10" high and poop out.

Passion flowers, I can give you some help on those. Native passion vine is Passiflora incarnata. I want some, but it can travel by underground roots quickly and you can get it where you may not want it. Very vigorous vine.

Passiflora ceurulea - not as unrulea! LOL! There is the species that has white flowers with blue rays and sepals, or the 'Constance Elliott' which has totally white flowers. Great for hummers and night flying hummingbird moths. Hardy to zone 6.

I also have Passiflora 'Lavendar Lady' with deep purple blooms. Comes up late spring (sometimes June), but grows quickly and the flowers are to die for. All passi's are fragrant to me.

This is the "however" of the passion flower. They attract Gulf Fritillaries because they are the host plant for them. Some years they will quickly defoliate your passi. The leaves always come back, but you will be rewarded with these beautiful long-wing orange butterflies (large) in your garden. Once they find your vine, you will have them thru late fall.

You're right - it is relatively easy to grow from seed. That is the only way to propagate them really. I and many others on the Butterfly Forum have tried to dig up suckers and root cuttings. Never works - they don't like it.

Buying a plant is also another way, if you can find a nursery in Bartlesville that carries them. Some nurseries do because they are fast gaining popularity.

There is a red flowering one also. I don't grow it because the Gulf Frit caterpillars die from eating it. But, if you don't like butterflies, this would be one for you to get.

I just love cleome! I can count on it every year to come back from seed. The flowers are so unique, the butterflies like them (the Cabbage Whites use it for a host, but if you don't like them, you can use BT). They don't do that much damage in my garden, so I let them eat.

Other things that reseed for me are Cosmos 'Cosmic Orange', pink/white salvias (Cloudless Sulphurs love to nectar on these, as well as hummers), zinnias, Milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) with gorgeous yellow, or yellow & red flowers--food for Monarchs which you should definitely see in your area), verbena bonariensis (more of a "filler" plant), but the butterflies love its nectar; borage (for the honeybees and bumblebees), Golden Crownbeard (verbesina enceliodes) provides nectar for the Monarchs in their fall migration back to Mexico, and cypress vine, which the Cloudless Sulphurs also love for nectar, as well as the hummers.

I have another seedling of hollyhock nigra coming up. Guess I'll leave it where it is. It is supposed to be a host for Painted Ladies, but I've never found any on it. I love the deep maroon, almost black, blooms on it.

See, you've got me thinking hollyhocks again! LOL!

Susan

Susan, If you find something that gets kids to eat vegetables, please pass it along - both for my grandson and for my job. I write lessons about agriculture for kids, and one of the things I'm always trying to think of is how to get kids to try vegetables and fruits they've never tried before.

I told my mom I was growing hollyhocks, and she got a wistful tone in her voice and said, "We used to grow hollyhocks." I want to try some of these other old-fashioned flowers you guys are talking about.

I never knew the reason why people planted hollyhocks by the outhouse! I just assumed it was because they grew so tall, they would hide it. Isn't that funny...

Hey, OKPrairie, try different kinds of dips! We adopted our grandsons when they were in 5th grade and they lived with us for anywhere between three months to a year at a time before that. One of them didn't like vegetables. But he loved ranch dressing. So I'd give him a cup of that and a selection of raw veggies cut in pieces big enough he could dip with. Most kids also like BBQ sauce, but I'd start with a ranch dip or a cheese dip because that appeals to most kids. My kids, when they were small, hated peas. But they loved frozen peas, straight from the freezer, especially as a snack during hot weather. With fruits and melons, try making smoothies, or puree them and freeze them in popsickle molds. My kids loved to pop frozen grapes in their mouths and let them "melt".

My kids were usually open to whatever I put in front of them. You have to start in young, not allowing them to dictate to you what they will and will not eat. Of course everyone has things they just do not care for, and that is to be respected. But some kids today seem to dislike almost everything. In that case, I believe it's more of a bid for attention than anything. Moreover, they are a pain to cook for when they grow up. You would think it would naturally follow that those kids would never have a weight problem, but that's not so. Normally the things they will eat are things that are laden with fat and sugar, artificial flavors and colors, and they end up being obese with bad skin.

Thanks for the suggestons, Ilene. My daughter has tried the dips but my grandson just licks the dressing off the vegetables. Did your sons do that? I remember loving frozen peas more than canned peas when I was a kid, but I don't think I ever tried them straight from the freezer. Fruits don't seem to be as difficult as veggies, and most kids do like smoothies. We have developed an activity in which we put plain yogurt, frozen blueberries and banana in a plastic bag, seal the bag and have students use their fingers to blend it. We call it Oklaberrynana smoothie.

I loved veggies when I was a kid, but I think it was because I loved eating from my granddad's garden. Maybe I associated them with my visits to my grandparents' house. Also, we didn't have so much fast food back then; my mom stayed at home and cooked for us. Most moms can' do that now. My daugher can't.

I really hate what's happened to kids' diets (and adults, too, for that matter. Pat

OkPrairie - I used to make Zucchini pizza for them. They loved it - I never could get them to eat zucchini. The crust is actually made of grated zucchini, eggs, etc., and the topping is whatever you want to put on it - sauce, meat or no meat, etc.

I'll get the recipe for you.

My kids are still terrible about eating vegetables, and I don't know why. They grew up eating them. My poor little GD now doesn't like them either because momma doesn't. I've been trying to sneak in things that she will eat - like fruits of all kind. I told her I'm not buying "bad food" for her anymore. She loves strawberries, apples, bananas, oranges, grapes. I make chicken salad with grapes and/or apples for her and she loves that. I use taragon and celery seed in it, and lots of onions. She loves onions! She loves raw veggies, like carrots, celery, grape and cherry tomatoes. So, I do a lot of veggies trays for her, too.

So, I do what I can to help with a better diet for her. She's not fat by any means, but I'm afraid she is getting too used to "fast food". I don't buy fast food. She loves that nanny cooks for her. She also loves pancakes (not so good), but likes them without syrup.....go figure.

I make strawberry and pineapple julius's for her, too. She really loves those.

Susan

Susan, I want that zucchini pizza recipe, too---

Those are great ideas, Susan. I always forget that you can grate zucchini into all kinds of dishes. I just want them to love vegetables. They have so many interesting flavors. That's great that your granddaughter loves onions. I did, too when I was little. I used to make onion sandwiches when I was home alone in the summertime. My kids won't eat them to this day. It's nearly impossible to make anything good without onions.

My daughter tries to keeping things healthy for them, but fast food is just too convenient when you're as busy as she is. And once the habit is established it's pretty hard to break. They live in Colorado, so I don't get to cook for them much.

That pizza recipe sounds delicious. I'm looking forward to getting it and will pass it along to my daughter. It sounds like something they might like.