The
hollyhock was introduced into Britain from China in
the early eighteenth century, and reached the height
of its popularity as a garden flower in the very early
Victorian age. By the time that Hibberd wrote in the
latter nineteenth century he reflected sadly that the
hollyhock had lost much of its appeal, and was not grown
so widely as once it had been. The occasion of this
decline seems to have been a 'paltry fungus' that was
spread by the native mallow along the burgeoning railway
lines of Britain and which decimated the garden hollyhock.
New
varieties of hollyhocks used once to be grafted onto
the roots of 'nameless seedlings' to be raised in the
steaming heat of greenhouses
to promote quick growth and thus sale. This practice,
however, only weakened the new varieties, and by the
late nineteenth century hollyhocks were generally raised
by seed.
Seeds
could be sown anytime from March to August to produce
plants which would flower the following season. They
needed good rich soil and perfect drainage, as well
full exposure to air and light.
