On todays episode of "A Gardeners' Diary" on HGTV, the featured gardener was a woman who grew up in Italy.....she now lives in North Carolina...well, she talked about her French Hollyhocks, and how she gives a little to her cats each day to deter vomitting. Has anyone heard of this and would you possibly know of a website where I could get more information?Thanks!!
I don't have this one on my data base, but I did a quick search for you, and found this site. It does not mention that the roots are poisonous, so I think some more searching is in order. Over to you!
I saw that episode too and what she called French Hollyhock, I have in my garden and it is called Malva zebrina. Blooms forever and is very lovely! Self sows freely.
That's fascinating. Did she say what part of the plant she feeds to her cats? Leaves, roots, flowers, fruits (which are called cheeses)? I have Malva sylvestris forms including 'Zebrina' naturalized on my place, and I grow Malva verticillata (one of the oldest domesticated plants) as a vegetable in my garden, but I never heard of feeding it to cats. My cats certainly don't show any interest in them in the garden.
