"Sacha" wrote
On 2012-08-17 11:46:34 +0100, "Sue" said:
I also thought about lemon Hollyhocks, but they've never done very
well here in the past, which is a pity because I love good old
Hollyhocks in any colour. They remind me of the house where I was
born; my mother always had some in our back garden.

We love Hollyhocks but they always seem to get rust here. Too damp
and warm, I expect. We saw masses of them growing in parts of Norfolk
and they looked absolutely fantastic. The Verbascum is a very good
idea but V. bombyciferum is probably too big and spreading for you.
There's a beauty called 'Jackie' and another lovely one called Wedding
Candles. But for your pale lemon colour, V. Gainsborough is a gorgeous
plant. Very good idea, Spider.

V. Gainsborough, or similar, added to list...

We used to have V.bombyciferum seeding in from somewhere at one time.
The neighbour thought they were mine and I thought they were hers so
they came elsewhere. The first year it arrived I had no idea what this
enormous grey-leaved thing was going to turn into, so I left it to find
out. They got huuuuuge! Trouble is the lovely rosettes of leaves were
always chewed to shreds by caterpillars, so they never looked as good as
they should.

Hollyhocks ought to do okay here. In my dad's present garden they just
grow themselves and seed around, coming up in different colours and the
like. There are some in a cottage garden only a few hundred yards down
the road from me which always look magnificent, but mine were hopelessly
weedy and rusty every time I planted them, whether seed grown or bought
plants. Probably I just need greener fingers.

--
Sue