What to do with still flowering hollyhocks?

[user1471530109]

My hollyhocks flowered late (I had grown them from seed in the spring and wasn't expecting them to flower this first year) and they are still in flower! The bottom seed cases have dried up, but most are still soft and green with some flowers still in bloom. I had hoped they would just self seed to be honest and the 'old' plants would flower agin next year.

What do you think I should do? Leave it? There are about 8 plants in my front garden and I've loved them this year. I'd hate for them to not flower next year.

(I have looked on RHS but it doesn't really cover this issue as it states they will have flowered by September!)

And I'm south Midlands. So still mild (we have had some frost's though)

I think I'd harvest a few of the seeds from the ripe pods and sow them carefully and nurture them, so you are guaranteed a few plants, then leave the flowering stems on and see what they do by themselves. And see whether any of the rosettes make it through the winter to flower again next year - they are allegedly "short lived perennials" so in theory capable of managing 3 or 4 years.

Thank you. So you'd leave the stalks etc as they are over winter and not cut them back? I have more seeds anyway. Is it right that if I plant them now, and keep them indoors and plant out early spring, they would flower next year?

It does look odd with the flowers round the window and the christmas lights . They've been flowering since June which just seems amazing!

So you'd leave the stalks etc as they are over winter and not cut them back? Yes, if you can bear to. They're good for over-wintering invertebrates. But it won't hurt the plant to take them off.

Don't know about the sowing question. The idea of a biennial is that they spend the first year building up good roots and a leaf rosette, which store enough food to last over winter to enable getting into flower quickly the following year. So in theory sowing now shouldn't make a lot of difference because they won't have enough good growing season to build up the plant. But on the other hand, as you have demonstrated, some hollyhocks can flower in the first year ...

I usually leave mine and cut back in spring. I always get them coming up in same place now, took a couple years to get to that point but I think they are established with first and second year plants now. I usually scatter the seed from dried seed pods in autumn around the plants but they probably do the same themselves anyway.