My volunteer hollyhock is loving its location in the garden. I figure it free seeded from my neighbor's yard. It is over 8' tall and growing in the gravel and un-amended clay soil next to the raised beds but not in one!
I've never had any luck growing hollyhocks "on purpose." They always die on me. Obviously they thrive in heavy clay soil with little water!
When I first moved to the Rogue Valley in 1971, I couldn't buy agapanthas (Lily of the Nile) anywhere. I had to "import" them from California where they enjoyed popularity, even on freeway medians. Here the standard answer to my query about them was, "Oh no, they aren't possible in our zone!" (Sunset zone 7). And they didn't survive the cold winters so I stopped planting them back then.
HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED!
Today they are widely available at all nurseries and garden centers in the valley. For the past several years we haven't had the extreme low temps that would kill them! Other formerly tender plants have also become available at local nurseries suggesting that our climate has indeed changed!
Yes, just looking at my little grand niece Tessa makes my milk drop! Isn't she a sweetie. And my sister-in-law is reveling in being a grandma for the first time and getting to spend lots of time with her in Texas.
