Golden Hollyhocks
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| From Neddy’s The Plains Album |
“Hollyhocks! Stiff as starch!
Oh, fix your bayonets!
Forward! March!”
Flower fads come and go, but to old timers like me, Summer means hollyhocks. In long ago England the Crusaders returned from the Middle East bearing mallow plants which became “holy hocks”, because “hock” meant “mallow” in English. The bright flowers were a hit in the dark and drab Middle Ages.
In America, the common hollyhock arrived with the colonists. Thomas Jefferson grew them at Monticello. In the late 19th century the plants were beautifully cultivated on Appledore Island, off the New Hampshire coast, where they were immortalized by the American Impressionist painter Childe Hassam.
Neddy's Wondrous World 
Evelyn said,
July 13, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Dear Neddy, I really appreciate your comments about Holly Hocks. I didn’t know that they were what was called Mallow. I believe that there is food in dem der Holly Hocks but I cannot remember what.
I also cannot remember when I last saw a real blue sky. Is there anything we can do about this? I prayed to God who always answers my prayers and he gave me one day without Chem TRails but the next day they were back.
I have been thinking that maybe God is using them for His purpose and we will just have to wait and see what it is. I don’t mean that He is putting them there but God does use evil to bring about Good, at times. Sincerely Evelyn
Navtej Kohli said,
March 11, 2008 at 11:10 pm
The garden of my boyhood days
With hollyhocks was kept ablaze;
In all my recollections they
In friendly columns nod and sway;
And when to-day their blooms I see,
Always the mother smiles at me;
The mind’s bright chambers, life unlocks
Each summer with the Golden hollyhocks.