RE: Hollyhocks

Claire,
Thanks for all the information on Hollyhocks.  You have inspired me to try
pallida and ficifolia.  They look old fashioned and charming. I have seen
them pushing 12 ft. in sunny gardens here and am so envious.
	In 25 years of growing roses, I've just had rust on one rose, 'Chicago
Peace', and it was relentless.  Such a beautiful flower, I hated to pull the
darn thing out.  We have black spot like mad and I used to have one rose
that always had powdery mildew, 'Tropicana',  another beauty and very
fragrant.  It was here in the back yard when I moved here and I tried
mightily to prevent/treat the disease but it was a losing battle -  so it
also bit the dust.
	Otherwise, I have planted and replanted my roses over the years so that now
I have only the most disease resistant and the only spraying I do is dormant
spray during the winter.  I do love my roses, but they take some
maintenance.
      I mostly grow old roses (musks & bourbons) and David Austins.  I even
have 2 that bloom beautifully in the shade without blackspot.  I have a few
old time Jackson & Perkins hybrids that were bred before they eliminated
fragrance and disease resistance that are wonderful.  However, the breeding
trend is back toward those qualities in the last few years.
I am always looking for another spot to put climbing roses too.  When your
garden is "full" you have to go up not out (another reason to love
hollyhocks :))

Marilyn Dube'
In sunny, windy
Portland, Oregon


-----Original Message-----
From:	owner-perennials@hort.net [o*@hort.net] On Behalf
Of ECPep@aol.com
Sent:	Thursday, January 09, 2003 8:33 PM
To:	perennials@hort.net
Subject:	Re: Hollyhocks

In a message dated 1/8/03 2:08:40 PM Eastern Standard Time,
mygarden@easystreet.com writes:


>
> Does anyone have any suggestions for rust on Hollyhocks, Malva &
> Snapdragons?  I love all of these - they are so cottage garden wonderful.
> But the rust is a real ugly turn off.  Other areas of the US, with much
> higher humidity than the PNW, grow beautiful hollyhocks without rust.
> And,
> there is nothing prettier for cut flowers than Snapdragons in MHO until
the
> rust arrives.

Have you tried the species Alcea ficifolia and A. pallida.   Both are less
susceptible to rust although one summer a few years ago in a period endless
rain and high temperatures both showed some rust   Usually they do not.
They
are pale yellow with some pastel shades getting in there somehow.

A. pallida is the one with a main stem and very large single flowers.  A.
ficifolia has smaller yellow flowers but the stem branches a lot giving a
long season of bloom.  Ficifolia seeds around on it's own, you need to
collect the seed from pallida and make sure it gets a start in a marked
area.
 A. ficifolia, as the name suggests, has fig shaped leaves at the tops of
the
stems.  The handsome fig shaped leaves appear the second year if you do not
see them the first year.  A. ficifolia is nearly indestructible,
occasionally
growing through the lilacs here.  A. pallida is a bit more trouble here but
more beautiful.  Ficifolia can grow to eight feet tall and if it is inclined
to do so, will need a stake or can be grown through a shrub.

Other hollyhocks grow in my garden though they are self seeded and I never
know what they will be until bloom time.  If they have any rust, they are
pulled out and discarded on the burn pile.  If you have soil inoculated with
a plant rust, the flyers from Extension on rusts state that the soil will
remain infected nearly forever.  A rust resistant species needs to be found.

I don't see rust on hollyhocks every year but it is very much present in our
area.  Air movement around the plants is supposed to help.  The two species
are much stronger than the hybrids and do well in dry soil.

I have never seen any rust on a snapdragon though I have had some live over
for two years.   That would be the tall ones.  The tall straight spikes
bloom
late here, sometimes barely bloom at all as they get ready when the days are
short.  The short pudgy hybrids bloom from the flats purchased, then they
sit
around a while and get going again in late summer.  I don't know rust on
these plants, very healthy strong green foliage as a rule.

You guys in PNW have that rose rust, also in California I believe.  We do
not
have rust on roses here though Coop Extension says it is quite possible. I
have never seen any.  That being said do not feel bad, we have all the other
rose diseases and plants can defoliate entirely by midsummer from blackspot
diseases.  Roses are always a crapshoot or a full season spray schedule.
Gallica roses are the most healthy here, they never defoliate and are not
much attacked by JB's.  I don't know why they are not more popular.  We have
a lot of them which sucker into big patches and need virtually no care.

Claire Peplowski
NYS z4

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