Hollyhocks or Old Fashioned Hollyhocks

Description:

Blooms on tall, 5-9 foot stalks, that come in a variety of colors. Not much fragrance but bees, butterflies and hummingbird seem to like them

Habitat:

In our backyard in an area with sandier soil and drier conditions with full sun. Further back we have wetlands, woodlands and grazing lands. Near a lake and within a seven mile radius of farm fields, prairie fields, creek and river.

Notes:

My mother found these growing wild in a ditch near an old, abandoned farm house in north-western Minnesota. She went back and collected some of the seeds in the fall (September or October, perhaps). We sprinkled the seeds on an area of cleared ground where they'd get the most sunlight, about 7-8 feet from a one-land tarred road and about the same distance from our detached garage. Every year they come back but I'm not sure if its all from seed or from root, as we've had neighbors and my parents harvesting the dried seed pods and our plants are just as big and thick as if no one harvested any seeds. They bloom in a variety of colors and color mixtures however, each stalk is given to one color and one color only (stalk or plant specific?). A former patient of mine said they had a black variety but when the seeds were harvested, the new plants did not bloom black but a variety of colors so I don't know if you can only collect say red seeds and guarantee that you'll have only red blooms.