Alcea rosea Majorette Mixed - Hollyhock

This mix of Majorette Mixed hollyhocks, also known as Alcea rosea Majorette Mixed, showcases low and compact plants that flower in the year of sowing. Their flowers are double or semi-double, fringed, in bright or pale shades of yellow, carmine, orange, pink, or white. Their modest size allows them to be easily integrated into perennial borders or planted in pots on the terrace. Indispensable in country gardens, they tolerate ordinary, well-drained soil, even poor and rocky soil.

The hollyhock is also known by its Latin name, Althaea rosea, and its vernacular names adopt the accents of our regions: it is called Passe-rose, Rose à bâton, Rose papale, or primerose. A member of the mallow family, it is native to Asia Minor and often naturalized in country gardens, fallow fields, and mounds of earth. 'Majorette Mixed' is a selection of dwarf plants that do not exceed 80 cm (31.5 in) to 1m (3 ft 4 in) in height. They form a ramified rosette of stems covered with round and rough leaves from which robust flower stalks emerge, with very rapid growth. These spike-like inflorescences are covered with numerous large buds that open, staggered from June to August, from the bottom to the top, into large semi-double or double corolla flowers with fringed petals. They come in soft or bright shades, in many cheerful colors. Throughout this period, they will attract bees and butterflies to your garden. The flowering gives way to numerous fruits filled with seeds that spontaneously reseed in the most unexpected areas, which the plant seems to choose itself: at the base of walls, in poor, rocky soils, in wall crevices, etc...

Widespread in abandoned gardens or fallow fields in our countryside, the hollyhock is often cultivated at the back of borders or against a wall that protects it from strong winds. The modest size and compact habit of this variety allow for a different use of this plant: it will find its place in perennial borders with light flowering, such as gauras or paniculate gypsophiles, for example, or in the company of mallows. It will also make beautiful pots on the terrace or balcony. The hollyhock is an edible plant, the flower buds can be consumed raw in salads and the young leaves raw or cooked.

The hollyhock is both ornamental and medicinal. Its seeds yield an oil with drying properties. Rich in mucilage, it has soothing, emollient, expectorant, laxative, and appetizing properties that are nevertheless milder than those of its cousin, the marshmallow of herbalists (Althea officinalis).