Last year someone sent me flower seeds that were well loved by their family. I’m sure they told me they were hollyhocks, but somehow I forgot.
I planted them out front of the house. They started growing quickly and I kept waiting on them to bloom. By summer’s end I realized they were hollyhocks and wouldn’t bloom till this year.
They slowly continued to grow over the winter and when warmer weather arrived they grew by leaps and bounds. Buds begin to appear all over them and the plants continued to grow.
Our recent rain has really exploded the flowers. They are varying shades from deep red to pink—all lovely!
Granny grew hollyhocks when I was a girl, but for some reason she quit planting them. I remember how pretty they looked just outside the kitchen door. Sometimes they’d get so tall they’d fall over.
If a good strong wind comes mine will likely do the same since they are so tall.
I’ve read dolls can be made from hollyhocks, but I’ve never made one. A quick google will show you how. An upside down bloom is used to make the bottom skirt of the doll.
Recently someone left a comment about hollyhocks being the outhouse flower. I found the following on Baker Creek Seed site.
“The term “outhouse hollyhock” refers to an heirloom variety of the classic cottage flower (Alcea rosea). Historically, these statuesque, 6- to 9-foot plants were grown around outdoor privies to hide them from view, serving as a natural and polite way to signal the bathroom’s location to guests.”
If I’d paid better attention to the seeds I wouldn’t have put them where I did, but they sure are pretty to see ever time I go down the front porch steps.
Tipper
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Miss Tipper, Your flowers as usual are so beautiful, colorful and really are such a pleasure. Just a question, have you had or ever tried to grow “rose of Sharon’s”. It was mine of my dear mother in laws favorite flower bush. She was a farmer’s wife and they had the love of the dirt to grow just about the best veggies and flowers, also fruit trees. I have missed her so much since her passing in 1985. Your gardens are wonderful and so fruitful. Sorry about the tomatoes this year. Hope the new ones are going to do great. To those who have requested prayer, mine are going up for y’all. God is so wonderful. I too have request for prayers for my husband of nearly 60 years. His name is Jack. He’s been quite ill. He’s lost nearly 80 lbs and now weighs approximately 130 lbs. He hasn’t any appetite and has multiple health issues. So please when you are praying for others remember him too. Our immediate family all have health problems so if you could pray for them too. God bless you all today, tomorrow and always. I love each and every one of you. Jennifer
I will pray for him and your family. Thank you!
God bless you Tipper. I do this for my husband, son and daughter. My heart is full from your generosity of prayers. J.
Those are beautiful! In the far corners of my mind, I can recall seeing hollyhocks planted in front of an outhouse over in Madison County, where my mother was from.
Wow ! Those holly hocks look very happy @ your place ! They are beautiful! I love the history of the “ outhouse flower “ very creative use for it , lol.
Hi Tipper and Acorns. Your Hollyhocks are gorgeous. It has been a beautiful and busy day here. Ed finally ate a real meal, the first in several weeks. I cooked a cheeseburger with bacon and pickle, baked potato with butter, sour cream and cheddar cheese. I also cooked onion, celery and mushrooms in olive oil butter. He ate about half. He was able to set up in the chair a few hours yesterday and today. He has lost almost 10 more pounds (down to 153) since seeing the doctor a month ago. TY all so much for keeping us in your prayers. I keep everyone here and up Wilson Holler in my prayers. I love y’all.
I’m so glad he was able to eat and sit up a while 🙂
God bless Ed with deliverance from this,heal his body and make him well in Jesus name
Hi Tipper; your flowers are so beautiful!! I also follow Mr. Danny King who lives over in Stone Co. Ms , one county over from us. His Youtube Channel is Deep South Homestead and today’s post is titled “ LIES —Porch Time 2026” I watched your Live last night and am so sorry about your tomatoes. I watched him this morning and immediately y’all came to mind. I think you and Matt would really be interested in what he has to say about today’s mishaps with commercial gardening products. I know he had me from start to finish. Wishing many blessings to y’all and have a wonderful day!!
My one grandmother always had hollyhocks, the other always had bachelor buttons.
Aren’t they beautiful!! I hope they don’t shade out your beans..
They are beautiful!!
My mother grew an abundance of hollyhocks. She grew an abundance of other flowers too. I can recognize images of most of the flowers she grew but hollyhocks are one of the very few I can name. I also call them “crepe paper flowers” because of their resemblance to the flowers she made from crepe paper for Decoration Day.
Morning everyone. I am watching your yesterdays video where Matt mentions not seeing the computer. Sorry Tipper, this is for Matt. Regular glasses aren’t made for that distance. I wear bifocals and I have a pair for the computer. I’ve heard them called “third vision”, “computer glasses”. I’m not making much sense. I know. Eye glasses are for near or far. In my cases both. I am very far sighted, but at 70 the far sighted is messed up a little. So I wear glasses to clear it up. I need reading glasses to see up close. I don’t like changing glasses. So I wear bifocals. That clears up the near and far. The computer is in between these 2 visions. So I need a pair for the computer alone. Matt’s are for near or far. The computer is sitting in between this. Most people don’t buy an extra pair. They torture themselves by straining and getting too close to the computer. That will cause headaches and eye strain in time. I’m not trying to be a “know it all”. I told the doctor the same thing. He told me about computer glasses. Only problem, I have to take them off to wear my bifocals. Tipper, your garden and all the flowers are beautiful. You all have such a way with growing things. Anna from Arkansas.
Anna, I had perfect near vision for most of my life but couldn’t see the wall at a distance. I couldn’t pass the vision part of my driver’s license test at 15 years old and started wearing glasses. In my mid 50’s I began to wear a weak pair of progressive bifocals but never got use to them, I would take them off to read or do anything else that was close up. AND then it happened about 3 years ago, cataract surgery and a complete turn around, now perfect distance vision and bad near vision. I could have paid thousands of dollars for “bifocal type implants” out of my own pocket but just bought some very cheap 2.0 strength reading glasses. I have a pair stuck everywhere I think l might need them. Now for Matt, I understand he just had a birthday, and have a news bulletin for him, welcome to old age, eye sight is just a start, wait until the Itis’s start kicking in, arthritis, tendinitis, and the others along with a sore back and stiff knees. It is all down hill after 50! I am teasing with you Matt. Old age ain’t what it is cracked up to be but it beats the alternative!
i remember my momma having these planted around the outhouse when i was a kid…and my granny too…never realized why… yours sure are pretty..
they definitely are a very pretty splash of color among those lovely large green leaves. I know my mama grew them, but I don’t recall them being so tall. It looks like a lot of blooms-to-be still on those stalks. 🙂
When I was a child living in California, my mother planted holly hocks all along our back yard fence. When they finally bloomed like yours, they were beautiful, well over the top of my head. With the blooms came the bubble bees, buzzing load in my ears, fliting from flower to flower. I was never stung nor my little sister, my older brother was not so lucky. It turns out that Joey was highly allergic. His eyes swelled shut, his whole face was the size of a melon. I had never seen anything like it, I was sure he was going to die. That was the end of the beautiful holly hocks, my dad chopped them down that same day. They were so beautiful.
Praying for Papaw Tony.
I grew up with an outhouse, but we never had these beautiful flowers growing around it. Dad kept it painted, and my mama kept it thoroughly cleaned every couple days…just like you would an inside toilet. She would head out there with her bucket of warm, soapy, bleach water and scrub away. She was so delighted when dad finally built a small house with, not one, but two bathrooms. She had always said if she ever had an inside bathroom, it would be the cleanest one ever…and it was. I was grown and married by this time, and we were working on a house of our own. Your hollyhocks are beautiful—and they sure would have looked pretty growing beside our blue, painted outhouse.
Having 2 older sisters I was taught as a wee one how to make the dolls, made a lot of them over the years. I planted a couple last summer and they bloomed, but they are probably hybrids and are different than the ones Mom had in the 1950’s.
Those are absolutely gorgeous! I’ve always heard of Hollyhocks but never seen them in real person. They look so healthy & strong. Thanks for sharing your beauty with us.
My great aunt Ella taught me how to make hollyhock dolls 60 some odd years ago when we’d visit my dad’s family each summer in Columbia, KY. I have such fond memories of those visits. Two years ago, I took my cousin, Bruce, with me for a visit to this much loved area and our cousin Perry drove us around for 2 days while we all reminisced. It was bitter sweet because both Perry and I have lost our brothers and they were always there with us while these memories were being made. Even though that part was sad, Perry and his sweet wife, Sonja, made our stay so lovely. We hope to go back soon as long as health issues don’t get in the way. Getting ready for my cat scan this morning and praying/hoping the results show that the chemo is working. I feel great ♡ So here’s hoping that translates into favorable results. All of our rain predictions here in west central IL have disappeared for at least the next 14 days. Bummer!!
Cannot recall ever seeing hollyhocks, though I’m reasonably sure I have. Had never heard of an “outhouse flower” but think it was a smart idea in multiple ways. For me, my first thought has to be, will deer eat them? If yes, not on my list. They sure are pretty though. They would make a good summer screen between our house and the road and just hope nobody makes the connection to their other name!
Deer won’t eat them, but rabbits will nibble when the tender shoots sprout in spring, but it doesn’t kill the plant, it keeps growing. Wherever the seeds drop in fall, they’ll grow themselves. They flower all season.
I love hollyhocks, especially the black ones.
Ah the beloved OUTHOUSE HOLLYHOCK-there’s not one statement more to add to GOD’S PERFECTION AND DIVINE LOVELINESS!!!! I’d be QUEEN OF THE WORLD WITH AN ARMFUL OF THESE DELIGHTFUL FLOWERS!!! Mommy always grew her hollyhocks right up next to the house on the western side. There is the outhouse and CHATERS DOUBLE which are fluffier, but the hollyhock is an old ENGLISH GARDEN FAVORITE FROM EUROPE just right across the pond. One day I will plan a trip to BAKER CREEK SEED IN MISSOURI. It looks like my kind of folks and would fit right in at a Grateful Dead show. My hollyhocks are planted by gardens edge here at the new shack waiting to take center stage. They’re lovely cut and arranged in vases. God bless the gardeners and FLOWER POWER to the humble and meek people and the SALT OF THE EARTH! A flower makes anybody look and feel better! Here’s a flower from my heart to yours and a big YELLOW hollyhock to boot!!!
Very pretty and very tall!
good morning friends please continue to pray for me, thank you for praying and God bless you very much, I’m going to be trying to connect with some more doctors today, get some referrals and some plans made to get some answers to the pain in my body, thank you very much and God bless you very much in Jesus name
Very pretty! We moved to a new home in November. being that we are in New Brunswick, Canada, things are just getting greened up now. There aren’t many flowers around so it is a clean slate. I may look to see if these will grow up here.
Laura Lee – I’m assuming your husband found a pastoral position in Canada. I’m happy for you! Keep working for Jesus!
AI tells me that hollyhocks grow exceptionally well all across Canada and in Maine.
Beautiful hollyhocks! What a wonderful sight to see every time you come outside. I have some planted too but mine are only about 10 inches tall. I hope they get as big and beautiful as yours.