Germination Instructions Soil temperature: 55 - 60 degrees fahrenheit Germination lighting: Light Germination days: 10 - 12 days Plant spread: 24 inches Plant height: 60'' Plant type: Biennial Maturation days: 80 days Seed Count: 10 Considered a biennial Hollyhock will only flower for one full growing season. The best way we find to grow hollyhock is to sow these directly in your garden from late summer until at least two weeks before your first frost in early fall. Hollyhock will not germinate when temps are 60 or below and need several days of temps in the 70's to germinate. Work enriched garden soil 6" deep and scatter your seeds and then top with a light dusting of compost or peat. One of the biggest mistakes made with holly hock sowing the seeds too deep as they need light to germinate. The seeds will germinate, and develop roots over winter, and flower the following spring and summer. If you get a late start, and want to germinate them in late fall, start them indoors in 4" pots using germination heat mats (or other heat source) to get them to germinate. Once they have their second set of leaves, and are about 2" tall, transplant them into the garden as they send down a tap root and if left in pots will become root bound and not develop correctly. You can also start these in winter indoors about 8 weeks before your last frost in spring in 4" pots. After your last frost in the spring transplant them into your garden and they will bloom flowers a little later than fall planted hollyhock. Finally you can also sow these in the spring directly in your garden. They will germinate, and grow, but will probably not bloom until the next spring and summer. Once hollyhock have had a full growing season of blooming flowers they are done. They will die back at the first frost, and some will try to come back the following spring, but they will not be very productive. If you let flowers stay on the plant they will self seed and create new plants the following spring but once their seeds drop it's best to pull the old plants up as they will not re-flower.