Specialty Gardening: SPECTACULAR 2007 COTTAGE GARDEN FRESH FALL SEED SWAP!, 0 by critterologist

critterologist wrote:
I'm not a fan of the fully double, frilly hollyhocks.. they just look "overblown" to me, although I do admire them in other people's gardens... but I love that semidouble bicolor one, pamsue!

I've got a burgundy single hollyhock, sole survivor from a Burpee mix ('Happy Lights'). It bloomed last year, and to my great surprise it came back and bloomed again this year! (I'm sure it's the same plant that came back and not a seedling... for one thing, seedlings from last year's plant wouldn't be blooming until next year.) But Hart has mentioned having some old-fashioned hollyhocks that are perennial for her, so maybe some of the older varieties aren't biennial. I did collect a few earlier seeds that seem mostly intact, but some sort of weevil got the later ones (look for a small hole in the perimeter of the seed -- if you see a hole, the seed is probably no longer viable).