To Sip the Sweets of the Hollyhock—

"What is the love of the tulip to me?
Said the happy and droning tipsy bee; 
The rose may blush as I hasten by, 
The lily may hang her head and die: 
But oh ! at their jealous pangs I mock, 
Mine be the juice of the hollyhock— 
To sip the sweets of the hollyhock— 
The tipsy sweets of the hollyhock; 
Mine, mine, mine the juice of the hollyhock!"  

I can't grow the standard hollyhocks.  Too much shade.  Sad, sad, sad. 

But I dream of having them as I carefully examine all the varieties in the 2014 seed catalogs and the 19th century articles on new varieties!  

Personally, I hate the doubles. To me they look like wadded up kleenex. 

Hollyhocks are just so in-your-face happy looking. You can't miss them when they are around. They cry out to be in children's book illustrations!

And, as I have sampled the web for hollyhock info, I see that many, many other people love them, too. Dozens of blogs have spoken of them, their history and their culture. An absolutely wonderful 6 part blog article on hollyhocks from Pomona Belvedere at tulipsinthewoods.com covers it with delightful eloquence and practicality. I'll list a few more at the end of this post.  What I have to add today to this fine body of hollyhock information is a few photos.

Wow!!!!

Links:
Landreth Seeds - brief history and 21st century growing instructions  (This is the original company established over 100 years ago though.)

Swallowtail Seeds - 36 varieties!

tulipsinthewoods.com - a special treat, on hollyhocks and many other plants in her garden

1891 - Journal of Horticulture, Cottage Gardener and Home Farmer -