Foxy is supposed to be a digitalis that will bloom first year. Majorette Hollyhock should bloom first year, may live a second or third but is definitely short lived. It's also a smaller hock, maybe about shoulder height.

I don't know if my Foxy have ever bloomed the first year, but they reseed nicely.

My figleaf hollyhock bloomed the first year. Good thing, too. Rust ate it up and it died before the end of summer.

Malva zebrina is a relative and blooms from wintersown seed the first year.

Foxy bloomed first year for me (winter-sown). I think possibly the Camelot series blooms first year also, as well as plain old d. alba. Sorry I can't remember definitely on the last two, but if you look them up you should find info for them.

:)
Dee

lilyfinch , I have some zebrina seeds and indian spring hollyhocks if you want them for sase. Just email if you are interested and I can set them aside for you.

Hollyhock "Fiesta Time" is a FYF for me here in Z5NH. It's a dwarf one.

Here is a link that might be useful: T&M Link to it.

Hollyhock "Summer Carnival" blooms first year from seed. I included a link so you can see what it looks like. I grew it once and it did bloom it's first year.

Here is a link that might be useful: Summer Carnival Hollyhock

I have a pink malva that was labeled hollyhock first year bloomer. I can't remember who I got it from though. It bloomed well first year. I had one other light pink hollyhock that surprised me but it was unlabeled.

I had some dwarf HH's bloom first year. I got the seeds at Farm and Fleet. Dwarf HH,'Majorette Mix', Livingston Seeds.

Camelot foxgloves have bloomed the first year for me.

KimKa

For those of you who wintersowed Foxy Foxgloves and had them bloom the first year, can you remember when they bloomed for you?

Hollyhock 'Indian Summer' they are singles they bloom first season. I've tried many types of Foxglove, they all bloomed the second season. Here is a picture of one my Indian summer blooms.

It's so sweet and bright! Do you remember when they bloomed for you?

ladyrose65,
That Indian Summer bloom has great color! I tried Livingston Seed's "Hollyhock Perennial Mixture". They did not bloom in the first year. Second year they were great. Third year full of rust, which seemed to have spread from Zebrina. Zebrina reseeds like crazy and doesn't mind poor clay soil. Good thing it's pretty because once you plant it you're stuck with it. :-)

3 years back I ws'd several of the Camelot foxgloves - white, cream and lavender, I think. The Camelot series is supposed to bloom the first year. One or two of the plants did send up a blooming stalk towards the end of the season, but they weren't very abundant. The plants that bloomed the 2nd year had much bigger stalks and blooms.

YMMV, if you start them early enough, have a longer season than we do here, or growing conditions they really like you might get better blooming the first year.

Maybe--I have some foxy seeds winter sowed, so we'll see. I'm encouraged by the other zone 7 commenters here. Just was wondering when I should expect them as I plan a bed.

The Dalmation series of Digitalis purpurea blooms in about 14 weeks from seed. Last year I used Dalmation Peach, which was beautiful. This year I'm growing Dalmation white with red spots.
Dwarf Hollyhock series Queeny blooms the first year from seed and comes in several separate colors. I've grown the white and yellow; this year I'm using salmon.

I should add that I don't wintersow either of these, but the Dalmation Digitalis is marketed as 100% first year flowering and it seems to be true, so you should get late first year blooms regardless.

Alana

Lillyfinch and Lovesbloom, let us know what you chose and show some pictures this summer.

Lovesbloom, the HH's bloomed July to October. However, they were dwarf in height, which was good because they did not succumb to rust. This year I'm Wsing Alcea ficifolia.

Thank you all for your help--I plan to get plenty of pics since I'm turning my lawn into a series of flower beds. I plan to plant the taller hollyhocks I have behind some tall plants in hopes that rust won't bother me if it appears.