They can certainly live over four years but I've never had one fail to bloom. It looks like a Hollyhock but possibly some other number of the Mallow family. But that's no reason for not blooming.

There's a stem visible back left that could be a flower stem. But it could just be a couple of stems together making it look thicker.

@floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK, thanks! yes it beats me why it has never bloomed. My friend said she paid a lot on the plant as well as fertilizer. Maybe too much fertilizer?🦉

Could well be. And the plant should not have been expensive. They're easy to raise. They don't need fertilizer. They'll grow out of a crack in a street.

floral I hope ours will be so easy as yours

And what a surprise that last weekend I visited her garden and her hollyhocks suddenly produce the flower spikes. Must be the magic of this thread?😄