Hollyhock Dolls

Them Hollyhocks just shot right up this summer the way they have been doing for the past who the hecks knows how long.   I have been growing Hollyhocks in the backyard ever since I can remember.  It started out years ago much to the advantage of the dainty women folk in our area.

When I was a young girl and certain people still employed outhouses in the Wyoming Valley of Northeast PA, the custom was to plant the hollyhocks on all four sides of the outhouse.  

Now look at how the years have flown, and every summer, like clockwork, I tend to my hollyhocks, some of which have actually survived the wintertimes, and believe it or not, bloomed in winter!  Back in in the winter of so and so Walter and I were convinced Satanic forces were at work, his warm fires keeping the grounds warm enough in the bitter winter to produce a single ten foot strand of Hollyhock in mid February!  Oh What silly boobies we had become, thinking that the devil had anything to do with that plant.  Sure enough, we had Monsignor B  over to hack it down, and sprinkle the area, just to be sure.

When I was a little girl my grandmother and I made hollyhock dolls all of the time, and this is going back to oh my goshes the 1920's. Take two hollyhock blooms. One that is open and one that is just the bud.    Take the full bloom and attach it to the bud for the doll's hat.  Use  a 1/2 toothpick inserted through the ends with the green parts of the flower together) Then two toothpicks in the open bud for the legs. At the top of the open bud we stuck in 1/2 toothpicks for arms.