I have never done well with outside plants and especially growing seeds. So you all have shown me the way.....Now I make a little patch for my hollyhock seeds that someone gave me. I decided to get them planted quickly as nature would drop them fight on the ground at her house. It's been 2 weeks and now look at what I have... hollyhock hollyhock Now I don't know what to do with them.. Please tell me for I don't want to loose these? They are black and my hubby wanted them. That makes me work harder and worry. Now remember I am the one who, when growing seeds, always weeded my little seeded areas. Unfortunately I weeded the very flowers I was trying to grow. I won't do that this time. I have counted 6 little plants so far.
Even though you put the seeds in the ground, treat them like they self-seeded. Plants have been self-seeding for thousands of years so leave them to let nature take it's course, that's always best when in doubt. Those are much too small to transplant. Some may die before getting very large but again that is nature taking it's course...those will most likely be the seeds that were not healthy enough to make it so there is nothing you can do about them. Water gently though the summer and since they are establishing a good root system this first year I would not even think about moving any of them until they show up again next Spring.
Thanks toni. What you say makes sense. I am worried about something will eat them or that something will happen to them over the Winter. Will snow kill them? Will they die down and become nothing in the fall?
I grew hollyhocks last yr that bloomed this yr. One thing I had to learn is to just water the roots. They get these really bad rust spots if the leaves stay wet, some kind of fungus.
So I do have to leave my little babies where they are at least until after blooming next year. I hadn't planned on leaving them there. I only put them there to watch them get started more easily. So I should watch how wet it is next Spring. I can put a fan out there between rains to help dry them out. I also had a few hollyhocks along the house with a large overhang. It was very protected from getting rain. For some reason they went away. My hubby bought them in a pot one year many years ago. They didn't bloom the first year but did the second year. Sometime after that they were gone. We don't remember when they went away. Is that normal? If I don't let them bloom and keep nipping the buds off would they have lived longer? I am sorry if I sound silly about these things but I don't understand about biennials. So do all biennials not bloom the first year and then bloom the second year and then die??? I thought they lived foreverrrr and just didn't bloom every other year....
