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Penny Carnathan
Penny’s a Nurture And Hold (NAH): Nah, I won’t pull that out yet, it’s still got a green shoot. She likes dragonflies, lady bugs and new stuff only after weeding, pruning and fertilizing.
Kim Franke-Folstad
Kim’s a Want It Now (WIN): Everything pretty, everything now. She will resort to full-spectrum insecticides in desperate situations, and believes it’s her duty and right to buy new plants every weekend.
Both advocate Plant Choice (SOMEthing besides crotons. Please!), lots of color and low maintenance. We don’t agree on everything, but we’re smart enough to learn from each other - and from you.
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It pays to water those mystery weeds —you never know what you’ll get
Posted Oct 8, 2009 by Loren Omoto
Updated Oct 8, 2009 at 10:38 PM
Back on Sept. 9, I posted “The mystery of ‘Cassia?NOT!’—Janna Begole’s perplexing case of cassia seeds that sprouted as .... something else.
Were they weeds? She didn’t know and neither did I. But she kept watering and nurturing and they grew.
I sent a photo of her not-Cassia to Farmer Rick Brown. Hollyhocks! he said.
During a seed swap back in March, Janice Vogt’s Florida-friendly hollyhock seeds must’ve gotten mixed up with my cassia shrub/tree seeds. So much swapping. So much confusion. Something was bound to get mixed up.
A lot of gardeners might have just yanked out those unidentified probable weeds and forgotten about them. Janna apparently loves suspense. She just kept growing them. And she got her reward.
Here’s her hollyhocks on Sunday morning:
And here they are Sunday night:
And here they are on Monday:
Janna has her’s growing in a pot. Janice has a row of hollyhocks along the side of her house. They need some support—once they start blooming, they get pretty top-heavy. So wherever you plant them, keep that in mind.
According to the extension service, now is a good time to plant hollyhock seeds, although in our area, you need to go for the Vietnamese variety. Janice will be doing the Flower Farms field trip so maybe she’ll have more seeds to share (??)
Speaking of the field trip, we have about 60 people signed up. It should be a lot of fun and, hopefully, this incredibly hot weather will have given way to something approaching autumn.
One more PS—- I did find the garden spires y’all (and I) liked in the Vermont garden I posted about last week. They’re at Gardner’s Supply Co. in Burlington. They were on sale for $31.99 for a set of five and I would’ve bought a set but I couldn’t get them home on US Air. They’re available on-line but I haven’t had the guts to see what shipping would cost. They’re powder-coated steel and pretty long. (I found lots of fantastic stuff at that toy store. It was GREAT! More to come on that!)
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Reader Comments
Posted by (Janna) on October 09, 2009
What a wonderful seed swap surprise! Those blooms are so bright and beautiful - measuring 4” in diameter. (Yes, I broke out the ruler.) Thanks, Janice and Penny - and thanks to Rick for the identification! Janice, if you can give me some hints on harvesting the seeds, I’ll save some for other readers…
I’m gonna check out Gardner’s Supply Co. I really want those spires!
Posted by (RickBrown) on October 09, 2009
I’m impressed. Only the Vietnamese type could do this well in Florida and this early. Record heat again today! I saw new white and red versions of this species at The Flower Festival in April in the English Garden next to the Herb Garden there. I would suspect that seed will be available soon and I will keep my ears open. We shared seed of the one you have with all The Hillsborough Master Gardeners at their graduation in April 2007. Glad to see you popularising this great plant.
Posted by (Janna) on October 09, 2009
Thanks, Rick. Hollyhocks are now on my “favorite plants” list! I’ll bet the red and white versions were beautiful, too - keep us posted on seed availability. I’m really excited about the upcoming visit to your flower farm and look forward to meeting you!
Posted by (Iluvpumpkins) on October 09, 2009
Janna, The flowers all turn to seed pods, it takes awhile but they do. One plants will give you thousands of seeds. I just planted all the seeds I had left at the school. When the pods open that is when you put the seeds in envelopes to give away.
Posted by (Iluvpumpkins) on October 09, 2009
Rick, Please grow red and white Hollyhocks when the seeds are available, I know they will be beautiful. I really look forward to the farm tour and meeting you. Janice
Posted by (Janna) on October 10, 2009
Thanks for the info, Janice. Good to hear that one plant will produce so many seeds. I want to save lots of them to share and some more to plant…
Posted by (Chip) on October 10, 2009
Impressive bloom’s Janna! I can see why when I see photo’s of these they are mostly beside a fence, so they can have some thing to lean on! We didn’t get to the plant sale today Diane and I went to Plant city to pick up our berry’s today. If it doesn’t rain soon I am going to hate my water bill both the berry’s and all of the seed’s we got out have to stay wet for at least five days. If you have never
been to Parks dale Farm you need to go. and if you want straw berry’s this year you need to go soon.
I could not believe how cheap the pumpkin’s out there were some one close by had to have grown them. maybe I should find out who and they can tell me what I did wrong!.“Chip”
Posted by (Janna) on October 11, 2009
Thanks, Chip. Those hollyhocks are pretty tall - about 4 feet including the bloom stalk. Good that you and Diane got some berries. I’ll bet it was as HOT in Plant City as it was at the USF festival. Whew! I’m ready for some rain followed by cooler temps! Are your pumpkins still growing?
Oh - I was telling my mom that I’d been attacked by mosquitoes while watering at dusk lately and she gave me a helpful hint. Tuck a Bounty dryer sheet in your shirt like a bib or hang one out of your pocket. I tried it and it helped!
Posted by (Chip) on October 11, 2009
I just love those big blooms on that hollyhock, my pumpkin’s never did recover my butternut did.
have you ever been to parksdale farms? they have quite a big nursery and produce and kim, they more than a few Black/purple plant’s I wish I took my camera with me. I just know you would have had an interest in them. How many are we
expecting to go on the field trip? I have been
gathering seed’s and I am not sure if I have
enough or to much!....“Chip”..
Posted by (Chip) on October 12, 2009
I had not been to Parksdale’s for years and was surprised by all I seen there we are very lucky in this area to have so many nursery’s large and small
some of the road side stand’s and even the Flea market’s can hold a prize or two you just never know! Space is at a premium in our garden so we have to be careful of what we buy.The U.S.F plant sale manly give’s me a bad case of the “I want’s” back up a semi and load it all up! It is fun and I am sorry I missed it but my berry’s are in the ground now and I still got the “I want’s” at Parksdale’s…..“Chip”.....