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Saturday, July 12, 2008

Hollyhock



Here's a picture of a hollyhock (click for a closeup) that I grew in a pot from seeds. It's an heirloom plant ....

[...] a cultivar that was commonly grown during earlier periods in human history, but which is not used in modern large-scale agriculture. Many heirloom vegetables have kept their traits through open pollination, while fruit varieties such as apples have been propagated over the centuries through grafts and cuttings. The trend of growing heirloom plants in gardens has been growing in popularity in the United States and Europe over the last decade.

I'm a terrible gardener so I'm always thrilled when something actually grows for me. Here's a little about hollyhocks from Wikipedia ....

Alcea rosea (Common Hollyhock; syn. Althaea chinensis Wall., Althaea ficifolia Cav., Althaea rosea Cav.) is an ornamental plant in the Malvaceae family. It was imported into Europe from China in the sixteenth century. William Turner, a herbalist of the time, gave it the name "holyoke" from which the English name derives .....


9 Comments:

Blogger Garpu said...

Pretty! I've found that heirlooms either do really well, or really poorly.

1:23 PM  
Blogger crystal said...

Hi :) Mine seem less resistant to bugs and not quite as durable.

1:54 PM  
Blogger Steve Hampton said...

After several years ours have finally bloomed! Crystal, you are a real gardener of beautiful flowers, elevated thinking, and warmth of heart. I am so enjoying your blog.

5:24 AM  
Blogger Liam said...

I know nothing about gardening, but that's a beautiful flower.

9:38 AM  
Blogger crystal said...

Hi Steve :)

10:47 AM  
Blogger crystal said...

Thanks, Liam.

10:50 AM  
Blogger cowboyangel said...

I started a short story once called The Hollyhock. I had never heard of the plant while growing up in Texas but came across them in Colorado. Thought they were interesting plants - and I loved the name.

Nice job getting it to bloom so well.

11:08 AM  
Blogger crystal said...

Hi William. Nope - it's just by weird chance that anything blooms here. That's why I take pictures, so I can prove it actually happened :)

11:29 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

You made some good points there. I did a search on the topic and found most people will agree with your blog.

Flower seeds

1:36 AM  

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