Hollyhock

Alcea rosea

Malvaceae

The tall spire against a wall — a biennial or short-lived perennial that makes a cottage look settled in one season of waiting.

Cottage hollyhock. Related to marshmallow and okra; flowers are sometimes used in tea, but rust and spray make this a decorative plate first.

Parts used: Flower (decorative; occasional unsprayed tea)
Traditional notes: Cottage spire · Traditional mallow folklore
Grow · USDA 6b: Biennial / short-lived perennial, zone 3–8 Summer sowing for next year’s spires. Or bought starts. In work: Jun · Jul · Aug
Harvest: The view is the harvest. Seed if you want a colony.

Plant a new batch every year so the show does not skip.
Rust: pick, do not pet. Resistant strains help; air helps more.

Safety

Do not drink from a sprayed or heavily rusted plant

Companions

Plant with Clove pink, Dog rose, Garden peony, Lavender.

Lookalikes

Foxglove — Two cottage spires. One is a cardiac drug. The other is a mallow you may not want to eat either, but it will not stop a heart in a cup.
Datura — Trumpet flowers in a cottage bed. Datura is a tropane nightshade. Hollyhock is a mallow. Children have eaten the wrong seed pod.

Lore

Holy hoc in Middle English — a mallow associated with the Crusades in the usual unreliable way. Japanese horticulture bred the dark forms. American alleys still have the pink ones no one planted on purpose.

The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.