This gardening season, are you planning to start any hollyhocks from seed? These popular garden plants are also available as nursery transplants, and they also make wonderful seedlings. This season, you can plant hollyhocks from seed by following these simple instructions.
Step 1: Choosing Varieties
There is an endless variety of hollyhocks available. These plants have a maximum height of eight feet. They may bloom singly, in pairs, or in a variety of colours. Selecting from so many possibilities can be overwhelming, but these popular varieties can help you in your search.
Charters Double Yellow
When fully grown, this stunning golden-yellow double-bloom hollyhock reaches 5 to 7 feet. For optimal results, give plenty of sunlight and water. The variety known as “Charters Double Yellow” blooms twice. This will result in several flower heads with ruffled petals.
Radiant Rose
This is a dainty cultivar that blooms in brilliant pink. The flower stalk rises from the bottom and blooms from mid-summer to late autumn. When planted early in the spring, this cultivar is renowned for blossoming in its first year. A great choice for someone like myself who is impatient with gardening!
Nigra
This traditional black single-bloom hollyhock is very timeless. It yields huge, solitary, deeply crimson, almost black flowers. This cultivar draws a lot of pollinators and reaches a mature height of 5 to 7 feet. This cultivar will surely draw attention with its almost black blossoms, a colour not often seen in bloom.
Also Read: Black and White Flowers
Step 2: Choosing Location
The choice of where to put hollyhocks might be challenging. They can get so tall that you must choose a location where they won’t shade slower-growing plants. Plant them behind flower beds, walkways, fences, and buildings for the best results. It’s a great idea to plant dwarf cultivars in low flowerbeds or containers.
For the species, sunlight is vital. Plant them where they will receive eight hours of sunlight per day for best results, though they can thrive in some partial shade. This will result in more blooms and higher stalks. They will still produce stalks and blooms if they are partially shaded, although maybe significantly fewer.
Step 3: Planting the Seeds
Hollyhock seeds can be sown indoors in the early spring or outdoors in the autumn. The additional work required for each varies according to the season you grow in. Let’s examine the process of sowing seeds in the autumn.
Spring Planting
If seeds are to be planted in pots, they have to be started in the spring. Start six to nine weeks following the season’s last predicted day of frost. First, assemble the necessary materials. Before beginning indoor plants, assemble the required supplies:
- 2 to 3-inch pots or celled planting trays
- Potting soil
- Seeds
- Water
- Light source (grow lights or south-facing sunny window access)
Helpful Tip: Soaking stem cells in warm water, which softens the seed coat, helps speed up the process. This step speeds things up, but it’s not necessary. To start, hollyhock seeds don’t need a greenhouse; they only need access to enough light.
To make a shallow hole, fill your pots or cells with potting soil until they are about ¼ of an inch deep. After sowing each seed, cover the opening with soil. After you’ve drank enough water, find a spot in the sun’s shade.
Fall Planting
Autumn is the easiest season to plant hollyhock seeds if this is your first time. When sowing in the autumn, the seeds will have ample opportunity to go dormant in the ground until the right circumstances arise for germination. Hollyhock seeds may survive freezing soil conditions since hollyhock plants are fairly resilient in the winter.
It takes a lot of room for these flowers to spread. Plant diseases like rust might arise from placing plants too close to one another. Your seeds should sprout in ten to fourteen days after the right circumstances are fulfilled. Autumn planting requires a lot less time and planning than spring planting.
Step 4: Successful Germination
Hollyhocks like being hot and muggy. Your seedlings will typically take ten to fourteen days to sprout. There are several tactics to promote germination.
Consider using clear plastic bags or plastic wrap to cover pots or cells if they are planted indoors in the spring. Consequently, there will be elevated temperatures and humidity levels, along with a mild greenhouse effect. If you don’t have access to a greenhouse, this is a great substitute.
Seeds may take longer to germinate in soils that are either too wet or too dry. Check on your seedlings every day to ensure they are getting enough water. For hollyhock seedlings, room temperatures between 65 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit are optimum.
Step 5: Caring for Seedlings
When seedlings reach 2 to 3 inches in height and have completely developed leaves, it’s time to transfer them to a larger container. A 3- to 4-inch container should be big enough to accommodate the plant until the time comes to move it outside. Hollyhocks yield massive, deeply rooted tap roots.
The seedlings may burn and ultimately perish if they come into direct sunlight. In addition, soil that is exposed to direct sunlight will dry out faster. Make sure to monitor your seedlings so that the soil does not become too dry. Water is often needed to promote robust growth.
Step 6: Hardening Off
A technique for seedlings to acclimatize to the outside environment is called hardening off. In the spring, when there’s still a chance of midnight frost, this can be helpful. Your hollyhocks will be grateful for the strong sunshine and protection from the chilly evening temperatures.
Your plants should spend the first hour or two of the day outdoors. Increase the amount of time the seedlings spend outside every several days. We will gradually increase this to help the plants adjust to the outdoor temperature and sunlight.
In early April, when the evenings grow cold, move your seedlings inside. Once there is no longer a risk of frost in your area, you can move your seedlings outside.
Step 7: Planting Outdoors
Choose a sunny place with sufficient drainage for your hollyhock seedlings to start. Once a location has been selected, drill holes that are the same depth as the pot’s height. The hollyhock can be taken out of the plant and placed directly into the hole in this way.
Give your hollyhocks two feet or so between each plant. The yearly seed drop will make spreading feasible. We don’t want to overcrowd the hollyhocks because this will limit adequate ventilation between each one. When there is not enough airflow, diseases like rust can flourish and spread swiftly.
Conclusion
This kind of self-seeding plant is a great option for both novice and seasoned gardeners. Towers of colour will be present throughout the season, thanks to their exquisite blossoms. Growing hollyhocks from seed is an inexpensive way to increase the number of blooms in your yard every year.
Give the seeds to loved ones, neighbours, and other gardeners so they can also enjoy the benefits of cultivating hollyhocks.
FAQ
Do hollyhock seeds require layering when kept in the cold?
When hollyhock seeds are cold-stratified, they germinate more quickly. This can happen naturally if you plant the seeds outside in the early spring or autumn when the ground is still cold.
Do hollyhocks spread?
Hollyhocks spread easily because they are skilled self-seeders. Because hollyhocks self-seed and can reappear year after year, people frequently confuse them for perennials, even though they are only around for two years.
Are hollyhocks transplantable?
Since the taproot of a seedling is still growing, it can be moved. However, because the taproot penetrates the soil deeply, mature hollyhocks are difficult to dig up and have poor mobility.