Hollyhock Takes 365+ Days To Go From Seed To Bloom

I decided to start growing hollyhocks from seeds. This may not turn out to be a good idea, as it takes more than a year for it to bloom. This seedling is a month old? I had it in a cup where it probably wasn't able to thrive, so hopefully it will take off now that it's in the ground. These can get up to 5-8' tall. In the times of outhouses, these were often planted around the buildings so that women did not need to ask to use the restroom, they only needed to ask, "Where are the hollyhocks?"

So here is week "one." More posts to come.

Plant update 6/8/08. I know you're excited

It's mid-June and Breed and Co. had some very good deals on plants last week, much to my "chagrin" :-D I bought:

Justicia carnea (Brazilian Plume)

Thanks to gaygardener.com I know that this plant is a perennial that is native to the tropics and subtropics. It's also known as Jacobinia, flamingo flower, and others. Apparently it need shade/partial sun which is surprising to me because it's tropical. This website says it's easy to propagate, although I haven't tried it myself. However, I suppose this could become my next project. It's only hard to zone 9 which means it won't survive a central texas winter. Sad.. I guess I'll leave it in a container. Anyway, here's my plant

Duranta

So I was in Houston with Robert a month or so ago and we swung by Houston Garden Center on the way back to Austin, where I saw this plant

But it was in a really beautiful topiary form and I'm sure cost $30. Anyway, I found one at Breed and Co. for $5 or $6. That picture's not very good, as I took it on my cell phone whilst my camera was dead, but the plant basically has cascades of small purple flowers with a white edge, like this. 

a new red Plumeria. This one isn't flowering yet and probably won't for a year or so. But I was a little surprised at the condition in which I found it at Breed and Co. It was in potting soil which did not look well draining and the soil was soaking wet. If you don't know anything about Plumerias, one of the first things you should learn about them is that they don't like "wet feet." They prefer well-draining soil so that their roots can get air I presume. If you give your plumeria too much water, this atrocity results.

Also, here are the latest pictures of my garden. 

That is Ornamental Black Pepper Capsicum annuum 'Black Pearl'. Mine is just a baby but here is what it will look like later on. The growth starts out green but turns deep purple to black in the sun. It's beautiful and NOT meant to be eaten. I recently found a rather entertaining post on another gardener's website 

When I bought mine, it wasn't quite bushy enough, so I pinched it back and it looks like it's going to fill in nicely (the green growth is newest). I'm wondering if these are particularly thirsty plants (excuse the anthropomorphism). I would imagine they are because peppers have a high water content. I'd appreciate any feed back from anyone. 

Lastly, here is a preview of my next post (which I am just about to write actually) this is a Hollyhock seedling. It's a few weeks old. I don't know if it's pink or black, because I bought and planted both but I forgot to label them. I guess I'll find out in 365+ days. I'm going to make a while entry similar to my plumeria one which tracks the growth of this perennial. Thanks for reading.