It’s been a lovely hot week with lots of sunshine. The veggy patch is growing leaps and bounds and all the summer perennials that should be blooming are, indeed, blooming! This week, it’s time for Alcea, Hollyhock, to shine. Here are a few as my number one pick for this Six on Saturday:
2 – For the first time ever, I ordered sweet peas from a specialty seed place. I think it was worth it since these vines are more vigorous than the normal, super market seed packet plant, and the flowers have really long stems, perfect for cutting. This is ‘Earl Grey:’
3 – I’ve showed pictures of my Kordes roses before, but now, in their first full year, they’re just taking off. Like this one – it’s called ‘Cinderella:’
4 – Last year, I basically dumped a pile of zinnia seeds in the cutting garden and let them grow. They did, but they were crowded and not great looking and made it a bit challenging to find good cutting stems. This year, I started fewer seeds than before (indoors), and I planted them in rows where I had corn growing last year. They’ve just started to bloom:
5 – Chicory was introduced to North America centuries ago, and now it can be found in the gravelly shoulders of county roads grows all over. The rosette of leaves starts out looking like dandelion, but quickly a tall spike appears and soon the beautiful blue flowers show up. I collected and scattered seeds in my garden a few years ago:
Finally – it’s Echinacea time! E. purpurea hasn’t gone full gangbusters yet – wait a few weeks – but the purple and white varieties are popping up here and there. E. Pallida is in full bloom as is a brand new Echinacea – I call it Echinacea ‘Peter Fuller,’ You can read all about it here.
That’s it for this week. Hope yours is sunny and warm as well! To see Six’s from around the world, head on over to the host of this blogging meme – The Propagator.
County Gardening 
I always scatter seeds too closely together. I should take your lead and start them indoors next year. Congratulations on the echinacea. I have only the purple, but have been looking for the white.
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Thanks! The white generally self seed a lot better than when I try to start them indoors…
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Wow, alcea heaven! Love Echinacea pallida and Mr Fuller looks fine. A nice six, thanks for sharing 🙂
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Oh I love hollyhocks but they always get rust in my garden. I have one left from some seeds I sowed back in the spring. It’s so disappointing. Any tips?
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From what I’ve read there are rust spores everywhere. Last year all my hollyhocks had it, right from the beginning of the season. I cut off leaves and put them in the burn pile. Two years ago I had no rust at all. This year, just a bit, so far! So it may depend on weather conditions…
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Lovely sweet pea and rose, I bet they are fragrant. I used to have black hollyhocks, but struggled with rust and finally gave up growing them, yours look wonderful!
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Thank you! We’ve been lucky with weather this year.
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The echinacea look amazing, as does everything in your garden right now.
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Thank you!
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Love your hollyhocks’ choice! I just have 2 different this year and as Sophie said, rust is in the air….
Nice pictures and gorgeous zinnia and echinacea. Do you sow echinacea every year like zinnias or let them sprinkle with the wind?
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Echinacea is s perennial – and they self seed like crazy so they’re pretty much all over. I’m going yo collect seeds from the new, orange one tho to see what turns up.
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Such great variety in your echinacea & hollyhocks. My suffer w/rust but like yourself, I cut & discard (far far away) the lower leaves. The spores aren’t suppose to be able to rise very high, but let me tell you, they somehow manage to get to the top of the hollyhock. I only have purple echinachea this year, & you’ve encouraged me to stride further afield next year. Great six.
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Thanks Lora – I’m looking forward to seeing what mutant colours show up from those orange echinacea flowers!
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Hollyhocks are so RAD! Like peonies, they seem to do so well in so many other regions, but not here. I do not know why. A few do well, and no one can explain why. Chicory is unpredictable. It is not so prolific here like it is elsewhere. Those who want it actually cultivate it, like dandelions.
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I’m lucky I haven’t been hit with rust, yet, on the hollyhocks. They’re really quite beautiful this year
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So, yours sometimes get rust too?
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Love your selection for six on Saturday and your photos are fab. I could happily find room for the hollyhocks, rose, zinnia and sweet peas in my garden!
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Thanks!
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I am a recent convert to hollyhocks, I used to think of them as giant hairy leaved weeds! My seed grown plants are still knee high so doubt I’ll.get flowers this year. Jealous of your zinnia, mine have been poor this year, due entirely to neglect on my part. There’s always next year….
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Well, they are commonly seen here in ditches, apparently neglected, so you would be forgiven for thinking them weeds!
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