Hollyhock Flowers
Two Plants Sometimes Listed
Also gardeners should be clear that there are two plants listed as being called hollyhock flowers. The first is the Althaea – better known as Mallow while the plant more commonly known as a Hollyhock is an Alcea. The tall showy ones are Alcea. Althaea are shorter and, at least in my garden, weedier in pale pink, white and maroon.
hollyhock
They are botanically kissing-cousins as both are classed as Malvaceae, Indeed Alcea comes from the Greek word ‘alkaia’ meaning “a kind of Mallow”.
It is just if you want a nice tall hollyhock flower, you’ll be growing Alcea and its modern hybrids.
Hollyhock Species
A. ficifolia (Antwerp Hollyhock) is a 6 to 9 foot tall yellow flowering plant that has been rock hardy in my zone 4 garden for years. Mind you, it should as it is native to Siberia.:-) Not a rampant self-seeder, the blooms are as large as the modern hybrids and I think it is a bit more resistant to the common rust.
A. rosea this is the common garden Hollyhock flowersand while they come in a wide range of colours, as well asn single and double flower forms, they do get rust and they do get pretty unsightly by mid-summer.
You'll sometimes see A. sulphurea a pale yellow in specialist garden catalogs. It is a low growing plant that has never been hardy for me.
A. pallida is another tall (6') plant that is garden worthy with its pale rose flowers.
Black Hollyhock: I note that the so-called Black Hollyhock is really an A. rosea variety called 'Nigra' (Latin for "black")
There is more information on hollyhock flowers and growing them right here
If you want to ask a question about growing hollyhocks, click here
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