Alcea rosea Chaters Double White - Hollyhock

Alcea rosea 'Chater's Double White' displays double flowers in summer, similar to large white Chantilly pompoms with tight ripples that enclose a cream reflection. This robust plant proves ephemeral in cooler climates, where it is often grown as a biennial that readily self-seeds wherever it pleases. It thrives in full sun or partial shade, sheltered from strong winds. It prefers deep soils, even occasionally ones.

Alcea rosea belongs to the Malvaceae family. It is native to Asia Minor and is often naturalised in wild gardens, fallow land, and mounds of earth.

'Chater's Double White' is a variety with double flowers derived from this wild plant. It is an upright, generally unbranched plant that can reach a height of 2 to 2.5m (7 to 8ft). It forms a rosette of rounded leaves with 5 or 7 lobes, from which a robust flowering stem emerges. It has a rapid growth rate. From June to August, these spike-like inflorescences are covered with large buds that open in an overlapping manner from the bottom up into large double corolla flowers whose texture wonderfully reflects light. They display a delightful hue and are tenderly pressed against each other on the stem. Throughout this period, they will attract bees and butterflies to your garden. The flowering gives way to numerous fruits filled with seeds that self-sow in the most unexpected areas: at the base of walls, in poor and rocky soils, crevices in walls, etc.

Widely found in abandoned gardens or fallow land, it is often grown in the back of borders or against a wall that protects it from strong winds. The white pompoms of this variety can be combined with dark or light forms, single or double, against a wall or against a conifer hedge. This plant is said to be tolerant of juglone, a substance secreted by walnut roots, so you can consider planting this hollyhock at the base of a walnut tree, if there is sufficient light, however. It is an edible plant; the flower buds can be consumed raw in salads and the young leaves raw or cooked.

It is both ornamental and medicinal. Oil with drying properties is obtained from its seeds. Rich in mucilage, it has soothing, emollient, expectorant, laxative, and appetising properties, albeit attenuated compared to those of its cousin, Althea officinalis.