I have no luck with hollyhocks. I can't imagine why....not far from my house there's a farm with a HUGE "hedge" of hollyhocks that faithfully reappear every year. I've taken seed from that patch (with permission), I've bought seed...no luck. I may get a few seeds to germinate, I may get a plant or two, but they never progress to the second year and flower. I'm hopeful this year though....I've got two plants that came up from seeding last fall (out of a good handful of seeds!) and if they can get thru the winter, I may actually have flowers next year! I should seed more this fall in case these are truly biennial.

Give Blind Pew a kiss from me....my friend recently rescued a very sick little kitten whose eyes were so badly infected that at my first examination of the kit I thought he'd be lucky to have any sight at all. We've been treating him for a week now and happy to report the "good" eye is fully open and looks like it will be fine, the "bad" eye is looking better but I think will be blind.

Hi Annie,..i have to admit that when i started with Hollyhocks i wasn't making much progress,..until i sowed my seeds in Autumn,..i had sown seeds in spring like all my other seeds,..then it hit me i was successful with Delphiniums sown in Autumn,..there you have it,..as you are sowing seeds in the Fall you should have seedlings come Spring,..unless something is eating your seeds

Oh Pew is happy to get attention from PA,..didn't kiss him because he is a boy ,..so your sick kitten has shown recovery in one eye,..delighted to hear that and fingers crossed about the other eye,..i use Fucithalmic ointment for the sore eyes,..its expensive enough for such a small tube though worth it to see the eyes clearing.

I'm going out and sow more hollyhocks right now. I suspected that might be the answer; after all, that's when the plants re-seed themselves!