“Hollyhocks provide excellent architectural height, contrast and a certain amount of old world charm to cottage gardens and border backgrounds. Also effective when grown against walls or fences.”
~Missouri Botanical Garden [website]
Photos taken at Clyde in Central Otago, New Zealand .. 07 Dec 2021.
Hollyhock (Alcea rosea)
Photos 1 and 2: hollyhock flowering by a churchyard wall.
Photos 3 and 4: garden hollyhock — flower buds
Text and photos by Liz; Exploring Colour (2021/2022)
Exploring Colour 
I grew up with hollyhocks, and every summer would make dolls from the flowers.
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Those hollyhock ‘dolls’ are really cute Linda! For some idiot reason your comment got caught up in ‘spam’ .. grgggh!!!
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Hollyhocks are realy nice flowers!
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100% agree Horst ~thanks!
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Nice, Liz! And wow on that deep red. The old world charm may be part of why I like them 😀, along with the height!
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Thank you, I was looking forward to hearing about what you think of these! Old world charm is something to treasure when we have the opportunity. And the town of Clyde is amazing with lots of stone buildings and walls PLUS hollyhocks, which seem to THRIVE there! It’s a great combination 🙂
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I envision that charm going with a slower pace of life :-). Clyde sounds like a wonderful place to visit, maybe even live!
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Yes, Clyde would be a wonderful place to live although if the town’s big hydro dam gave way.. hmm.. we’d decided a while ago that even if we could afford to buy there (we can’t) we’d not take the risk! Right *below* a big dam.
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Oh my, I’ve just had a look on Google Maps satellite view… best to stick to visiting 💦💦💦
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Yes, absolutely! 😀
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My mother grerw Hollyhocks in her yard–thanks for the memory.
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How lovely! thank you.
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