Hollyhocks

Althea (Alcea) rosea, or hollyhocks, are a favorite old-fashioned flower popular in garden cultivation for well over five hundred years! 

The year they were introduced to Europe is a bit of a mystery, but John Gardiner's Feate of Gardening, a manuscript copied in 1440 and probably written earlier, speaks of "holy-hocke."  The old Anglo-Saxon word Hoc meant mallow, as hollyhock flowers bear resemblance to those of the mallow (they're actually in the same family).  And in the wild, hollyhocks can be found growing in the Palestine, so many believe that that the "holy-hoc" was introduced to England sometime during the Crusades, between 1100 and 1300.

 Hollyhocks have had their place in garden history for hundreds of years, from monastery gardens, to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello.  An old-fashioned garden wouldn't be complete without them!