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Hollyhocks for colour
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Hollyhocks, with their bright flowers, can be planted at key points in the garden
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IF YOUR garden needs a riot of colours, hollyhocks may just be the best option. With its white, pink, cream, yellow, red and purple flowers, the hollyhock is a visual delight wherever it is planted — at a key position by the front door, the garden gate or back of borders.
Alcea hollyhock is a short-lived perennial originally from Europe and Asia, belonging to the family Malvaceae.
The name is derived from the Greek word althea, which means "to cure". Not surprisingly, some species have medicinal value.
These plants grow up to a height of 1.8 metres. Hollyhocks are cultivated for their tall, slender inflorescence of large stalkers or short-stalked five-petalled, brightly coloured flowers suitable for mixed border or for growing along a wall. Alcea roseae is an upright perennial producing rounded, hairy, light-green leaves 3.5 cm long, cut into 3-7 lobes. Flowers are many along the tops of the spikes, short-stalked and saucer-shaped with prominent yellow centre.
Alcea spring bears fringed flowers in bright red and pink shades.
A `charters double' bears double flowers in a range of bright colours and paler shades including pink, apricot, red, white, lavender blue, yellow and purple. Alcea nigra has single, chocolate-maroon flowers with yellow throats. Hollyhocks grow in moderately fertile, well drained soil and in full sun.
The leaves of the plants were formerly used as pot herbs and the petals to colour wine and cure coughs. The plant is susceptible to rust aphids.
CHITRA RADHAKRISHNAN
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