USDA Zones: 3 - 11
Light: sun
Form: Flower Spikes
Height:  1 to 12 feet
Width:  1 feet
Flower Colors: white, pink, red, yellow, violet
Bloom Time: summer - fall

Special Features:
Attracts Butterflies
Attracts Hummingbirds
Beds/Borders
Easy to Grow
Fast Growing
Flowers
Showy Flowers

Old-fashioned favorites with dramatic impact, hollyhocks are renowned for their spectacularly tall flower spikes in white, yellow, pink, rose, red or purple. Single, semidouble or double in form, these beautiful, trumpet-shaped blossoms open from the bottom of the stalk upwards throughout the summer.

They can reach 4 inches across with some varieties and sometimes have ruffled or fringed petals. Their height make hollyhocks excellent additions to the back of gardens or along walls or fences -- any place that you want to add vertical accent. Depending on the region and the type, hollyhocks may grow as annuals, perennials, or biennials (a plant that grows two years, flowering only in the second). To further confuse things, hollyhocks self-sow and, once established, often act as perennials, providing an awesome color show year after year. The self-sown plants often differ from the parents, however.

Notable Varieties

• 'Charter's Double' produces double blooms in maroon, red, rose, white, and yellow.
• 'Indian Spring' is a tall variety, growing 7 to 8 feet tall, with white, yellow, rose, and pink flowers.
• 'Nigra' is deep purple, which is why it is often called the black hollyhock.