My Hollihocks are blooming

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

The largest one just had 3 buds that opened up today. Dark purple, almost black. I’m so proud.

I know gardening type threads don’t go over well here, but these hollihocks have been a major undertaking of mine for the past 3 years and they finally started blooming. So, if you don’t want to wade thru a long story, bow out now.

Before my last wife and I got divorced, I took care of the lawn and she was suppose to grow flowers and such. Well, I have a nice lawn, but she couldn’t grow anything. We thought it was bad soil, too hot, too sunny, too shady, hell, too something to grow flower in this border around the sidewalk.

After the divorce, she and her 3 kids managed to just about let everything go to hell. It was a particularly hot, dry summer and none of them had taken care of anything. So, the grass died, a young maple tree died, the house was being taken over by roaches, the kids had pretty much destroyed all the walls by punching holes in them. EX gave up, said take the house.

I moved back that fall and she moved out that winter. The following spring I decided to see if I could grow anything in the border or else I would just remove the lanscape timbers and let the grass take over. I dug it up, put in mulch, planted some seeds and things started growing. I decided it was just the EX that couldn’t grow flowers.

Amoung the things I plant were these 18 Hollihock seeds. They all grew, but didn’t do anything compared to the marigolds and alysums and some other stuff. So, I transplanted them into a windows box. They were about 6 inches tall at the time. They grew well. They were getting about 8 to 12 inches high when I started getting curious about these things.

I looked at a package of seeds in Home Depot and realized I had made a grave error. Instead of being a 6 to 8 inch tall plant, these things were 6 to 8 feet tall. So, now, winter is coming on and I have the beginnings of 18, 6 feet tall plants, already a foot tall, growing in a window box.

I called a nursery to find out what to do. The lady said, at least 10 times, “get them out of the window box!!” So, I replanted them again on the south side of the house. She said they would die back over the winter but come back in the spring.

Well, Texas forgot to have a winter here that year. They didn’t die back, they just kept growing. But they didn’t do anything but make big leaves. No stalk, just a lot of leaves about 2 feet high. Except for one plant. It grew to about 8 feet high, had lots of flowers, produced lots of seeds. But all the rest of the plants did nothing but grow leaves.

This winter was a pretty normal one for around here. It didn’t kill the hollihocks, so, I didn’t know what was going to happen this year to them.

Well, I now have 26 plants over 4 feet tall, 9 of them over 5 feet tall and 1 over 6 feet tall. The last is the one that has the 3 blooms.

I finally have a real crop of hollihocks. These things have survived about as much as I have over the past 3 years.

They are blooming, I guess it’s about time I did too.

Jim,
[sup]just rambling[/sup]

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Way to go, Jim! Are they single or double hollyhocks? I love the single hollyhocks, but it does take at least a year for them to bloom if you plant them from seed. I’d like to get some from a nursery that has already put in the time on their lot.

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Congrats, Jim!

I have nothing blooming on my balcony yet, but we’ll see. I have a pot of crocosmia that I got two years ago - no blooms so far, but settling in and looking a lot more lively this spring.

I also have a planter full of tiger lilies from the ‘bulbils’ mentioned on the linked page. They came from my mother’s garden a little less than two years ago, and are finally getting established.

Of course the one who really deserves the congratulations is Zyada. Maybe she’ll post about her butterfly tree …

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You sound like a proud papa, and deserve to. You obviously have given the necessary time and energy to take care of your yard etc. I love to garden, and used to do a lot of it when we were in the house. Now in the apt., I hope to get some balcony hangers etc., and fill my “space” with color and scents.I face the sun from noon till sunset, so should be able to do some neat things out there. Keep up the good work Jim.

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Zy, I can dig up some plants if you want or give you some seeds. These things are very prolific. They just take a few years to mature. You have a nice long fence in the back that you could just let them take over.

rjk, I have a couple of pots with pothos that were doing nothing for year till I started taking care of them. Now they are the kitchen table. It’s kinda fun being able to grow stuff. Keep at it.

Runadoc, I am kinda proud of finally seeing these things blooming. I did about everything wrong that I could have and still managed to get a good stand of them. I’m sure you’ll be able to do some neat things if you try. Or of course you can come down here and help with my gardening. It takes up several hours of the week, the rest of your time would be available for other stuff. :wink:

Jim

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Ah, Texas. That explains it. I saw the thread title and muttered “Where the hell does he live, the equator?” Up in Michigan, we’re just now getting stuff into the ground!

That said, I’m cackling with glee over my flowerbeds. When we moved in 4 springs ago, the beds were mostly clay. Horrible soil, unworkable, no earthworm would live there, must less anything that would bloom. I worked and worked, hauling out some clay, amending a lot of what was left, mulching, etc. This spring, finally, Mother Nature having done her work over the years (with some help from me) I notice that it’s finally nice soil in those beds. My perennials are looking healthier than ever, I can dig a spade in without breaking a sweat, the stuff crumbles in my hand, the worms have set up condos.

There is something about going out and working in the garden that totally heals me. I tinker, I move stuff around, I deadhead, I mulch… sighs happily They should bottle this feeling.

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You have clay? Well, I deal with pure sand :). The entire town I live in was built upon sand dunes, so all of the soil unless amended is sand. Sand which dries out fairly quick and has very low amounts of organic matter. BUT at least it will support most things (except acid loving plants die easily here).

After I hauled out all of the Kikuyu grass (Pennisetum clandestinum) we had as a “lawn”, I set about landscaping the entire thing. I didnt pay to amend the soil. Whatever survived a few years stayed, things that died went, and were never planted again, and now the yard is thriving, although it looks a big unkempt (we have a lot of weedy grasses that pop up). I’ve found that whatever thrives has very few to no pest problems. Even my bananas (which are coming back), and the cannas arent having a lot of problems, despite probably liking richer soil.

So, congrats JimB, isnt it great when things you plant grow and thrive?

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3 more blooms are ready to open. I know y’all don’t want a bloom-by-bloom description of my hollyhocks (yes, I realized the it is spelled with a ‘y’ instead of an ‘i’.)

Doobieous, I do get a thrill out of the, put out some seeds, water them, feed them and now look at them, scenario. You seem to know a lot more about soil and such than me, but have a little of the same philosophy. I’m a random gardener. I put it out, do what I know how to do, and let the strong survive. If it dies, replace it with something that has a better chance.

Cranky, we have clay here, too. Getting it to grow stuff is a challenge. It was 91 here yesterday. Our spring plants have come and gone. All my bulbs have come and gone, my periwinkle has finished blooming. I had some dianthas that came up from last year’s roots, which I wasn’t expecting. They took over the entire border in front. They’ve stopped blooming, but I cut them back and some new growth looks like it may start another round of blooms.

We are past the spring flowers. I’m putting in summer stuff. And, yep, it’s a great feeling.

Jim

Jim