A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2007 Very tall mystery perennial.

I've got lots of these in my garden in different colours... I thought someone told me they were gladiolus, but I don't think that's right. This picture doesn't really do the size of these guys much justice -- right now they are a few inches taller than me (at 5'6"), but they will grow tall enough that I can't reach the top of them.



(Something's eating them again this year so I've sprayed some pesticide to see if that helps. Not that they need much help as they still reach 7'+ with my neglect)

The flowers you have are Hollyhocks. They are very pretty flowers. Here is a link to a site with a picture to compare them too. http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/701/14731 .
Oh Welcome to the site from another newbie.

I love Hollyhocks.....they are perennials and will come back for you......Yours are the same as mine!

That's definitely them. Thanks so much! This site (especially the mystery plant subforum) is definitely a blessing for me -- I'm not just a newbie here, but a newbie to gardening as well. I thought these were a bulb plant that I could dig up and move in the spring (I was convinced we had some creative landscaping squirels who'd moved some bulbs last year because we have a few growing in our lawn and other unexpected places too!). That would have been a big surprise to start digging and find out it's a taproot!

Thanks again -- I may just get my garden back to some semblence of order this year yet!