Hollyhock Envy

Lee wrote in Lee May's Gardening Life, a post in part about regional plant envy. It was a post about how as gardeners, we envy plants that grow elsewhere so much that we make futile attempts to grown them in our gardens. I have a friend who continues to try to grown potted azaleas in Santa Fe. Sometimes, I covet hydrangeas. However, I've never attempted to try to grow one here. My variation on the theme is not only do I envy plants that grow in other climes. I also envy plants of other gardeners that grow in Santa Fe, especially the hollyhocks below.

As I've driven around the roundabout towards my house, I've seen these fantastic hollyhocks that tower towards the sky. They're over eight feet high. The owners live on the corner and they don't have a hell strip, but some large squares cut out of the concrete where they've planted hollyhocks.

Close up, they almost look like hibiscus flowers. My favorite ones are the yellow ones. And I've seen peach ones at a hotel in Woodley Park in Washington, D.C., but never here in Santa Fe. I have a friend that has some burgundy ones that are almost black. But they're a little too Goth for me.

Hollyhocks against a terra cotta wall are an iconic image in Santa Fe. Painting and prints of them abound. I love the shape of the seed pods.

Yesterday, I made a special trip to photograph the hollyhocks, but there were cars parks along the curb in front of them. Maybe, the owners were having a cookout. I opted not to get out of the car and start snapping photos.
The white ones are lovely, too. Hollyhocks aren't hard to plant. They're one of the few plants that I've grown from seed, but mine have never looked this spectacular.