Grow with us -5

Hollyhocks: City Survivors

Sylvia Avontuur writes an ode to one of her favourite summer flowers, the hollyhock

Hollyhocks (Alcea rosea, family Malvaceae) show up everywhere in the city of Amsterdam. Against walls, next to parking meters, streetlights. The weirdest spots.

They love the sun, hate containers, they would rather crack through the pavement instead.

Their deep taproots are their secret to survival in any kind of soil and dry conditions.They survive droughts. They need no care and rarely need watering.

They also bloom in every color you can think of but pink tends to be most common.

At Cityplot we love saving seeds from the beautiful ones. Wrap them in nice paper packets. Little gifts to share.

But hollyhocks have their own plans. They cross-pollinate freely.

Ann learned this the hard way. She saved seeds from a dark purple beauty and got default pink.

Growing Them

Last week Suzanne’s hollyhocks in Sweden started flowering - grown from a gift of seeds collected by Helder, our Cityplotter from Amsterdam’s Bos en Lommer neighbourhood. She sowed them in the poorest soil in her garden, among cobble stones and against a south facing wall and they are happy.

That's hollyhocks for you. Seeds traveling. Communities connecting.

Sow spring or fall. Scatter seeds. Cover lightly. Done.

They're supposed to be biennial, blooming in year two. Mine keep going longer. Keep blooming and self-seeding madly. A sea of flowers every year. Big rosettes. Thin them out if they crowd.

Using them

Hollyhocks like their close relative mallow have edible and medicinal uses. Leaves, roots and flowers are said to be soothing for the respiratory tract as cold infusions.

The Bees

Hollyhocks originated in East Asia but they have naturalized here over the last few hundred years. Bees don't care. They love them.

Skip the double flowered varieties as bees struggle to get in.

These plants are urban warriors and we're on a mission to spread them through our city streets. More color and beauty in forgotten corners.

Cityplotters are documenting them everywhere. Take a look at these pictures. Different neighborhoods. Same tough beauties.