I prefer single blooms, but I think it's just a matter of taste?

I like the singles better too...too bad I didn't see them first...just deciding if I should plant both...

If you have room, why not? I believe they're biennials at most, so you won't be stuck with them forever. Just for fun, here are the hollyhocks I wintersowed last year (the only ones that survived DHs weed wacker). They bloomed for ages.

Yours look like "fig leaves"...best ones according to what I read...beautiful...I have half an acre & room for both...plant together or separately?

I don't know if mine are typical - these are my first hollyhocks - but they got *huge*! I tend to plant in groups if I have enough space to help define spaces in my 1/4 garden, but either way you'll want to make sure you leave enough space for the mature size of the plants. If you're not sure what area they'll be happy in, you could also plant both types in a few different areas. I kind of wish I'd done that myself so I could have seen how the other two types that DH week wacked would have grown out...

They can get super tall...saw a pic on gardenweb of 1 that was as tall as the gutter!...think I'll just create a huge patch...yours bloom the first year?

They did, and then kept going right through to January! I cut them back a couple of weeks ago. I'm hoping to get a second year of blooms from them. They got to around 3' tall but they were really sprawling - they'd likely have been taller if I'd staked them up.

Mine grow only rosettes of leaves the first year and then bloom after that, usually for a couple of years. I think my growing season is too short to do the whole seed-to-bloom cycle in one year, so I just make sure I let some go to seed each year so that I always have blooming plants.

Mine are a very dark red single, not fig-leafed (which I read are rust-resistent.) Mine got rust one or two years, but I cleaned up the diseased foliage well, and haven't had issues for at least the last 4 years through wet and dry years. The flowering stems rise to 6 feet or so, and they are in a sheltered area so I don't worry about storms knocking them down.

NHBabs - Ann from Indianapolis...u sent me iris domestica seeds(so nice of u)...trying hollyhocks & morning glories...read the same thing about rust resistant fig leaf variety...hard to tell from the seed packet pic if my singles r fig leaf...years ago my niece gave me a few single hollyhock seeds & I got blooms the first year...hope I can post some fabulous pictures...

I think they're not supposed to bloom until the second year. I'm in a pretty mild pocket here, though - the locals tell me I effectively zone 9 even though the area is zone 8 - so I'm guessing that's why they bloomed the first year.

Not sure if I'll get blooms again this year but I hope so - they bloomed so late I don't think there were any pollinators still around. I never saw them go to seed anyway. They seem to still be alive, so fingers crossed! I'd really like to get some seed from these.

I bet u will get volunteers...read lots of comments where people were saying they popped up everywhere...going to put mine in my sunny corner in back & hope they go crazy...

Oh I hope so. I popped these ones in the edge of my kitchen garden last year, not realizing now big they'd get. I'll have to keep an eye out on my weeding sprees, so I can relocate volunteers somewhere I need more flowers and let them go wild.

would love to garden in your zone...do u grow tropical plants?

We don't really get warm enough for tropical plants. We're near Seattle right on the water and quite sheltered, so we rarely get above 80, or below freezing for that matter. It's an interesting climate to garden in. I'm still working out exactly what will grow here.

Having said that we used to live in California, so I've done a wee bit of tropical gardening. I miss fresh lemons, but not much else.

Hollyhocks are very promiscuous and variable. It is quite possible that if you sow the pack of doubles some will come out single. If you save seed it quite often comes out a different colour from its parent. I collected a beautiful lemon yellow which produced babies with purple flowers.

If you start some of your seeds indoors now you will have a better chance of flowers this year, though it isn't guaranteed. I don't bother; I just let them take whatever time they need.

floral - so we have no control & might as well enjoy the surprises!...

NHBabs - I'm with u...going to direct sow...the pkg of doubles says "blooms in just four months"...have a back corner where it won't matter if it turns out a little wild & colorful...saw a show once where a woman had a spot for leftovers...was unplanned & kind of ignored & she laughed & said it was prettier than the parts where she worked so hard...

Love those!!!...did they bloom the first season?

This is called peaches and cream. I bought the seeds from park seeds, but I've seen it available at other places too. It didn't bloom on the first year but was worth the wait. I've always cut my hollyhocks back once I get a couple good seed pods and that way they come back each year like a perennial.

That is spectacular!