hollyhocks are actually weak perennials, usually treated as biennials partly
because they occasionally die out after the second year. However, they are
very susceptible to rust disease and generally look REALLY crappy their
third year, as well as blooming poorly, so it's best to allow the seedlings
which come up very prolifically all around their bases to replace them, and
just yank the third year plants up out of the ground.
"paghat" wrote in message
news
In article .com,
"TomKan" wrote:

Do they bloom more than once?

They bloom through a long season (all summer at least) then as bienniels
are done with life.

Are the seed pods capable of being planted?

The seeds out of the pods can be planted. To get the most plants, start
them indoors about six weeks before the last frost, & plant them where
wanted after last frost. They can also be planted in the autumn right
where you want them to develop. Fewer will survive that way, but there'll
be more than enough seed so it won't matter. First-year foliage will
appear early the following spring, & each plant will flower a year after
that.

Occasionally they don't bloom until their third year but it is only rarely
they grow back for a second year of flowering because once they've
developed seeds they've finished their lifecycle (rarely they bloom for
one more year if their stalks were taken as cut flowers & never finished
going to seed). To have them perpetually requires replanting them from
seed. In a large enough bed they might self-seed so well it won't be
necessary to think about them, they just naturally reseed, but for crowded
beds of limited size it takes specific planning.

They produce vastly more flowers when grown from seed because they develop
quite a large root system their first year & multiple flower stalks their
second year. Buying them as second-year bedding plants getting ready to
bloom their first summer in the ground often results in only one stalk of
flowers.

If so, when should they be
harvested

A seed pod remains when the petals drop loose. When it darkens & looks
like its about to crack open, its ripe, take the pod then. The stalks
flower for a long period, & the seeds are ripening over the same long
period.

and how do you keep them until the next year?

The dried seed can be stored in a dark cool spot for months on end if need
be.

Will the seeds from a black bloom hollyhock produce black bloom plants?

Yes.

If you want hollyhock-like flowers that don't need to be replanted for
two-year cycles, check out tree mallows & rose-of-sharon hibiscuses.

-paghat the ratgirl
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