Hollyhock

Here's a picture of a hollyhock (click for a closeup) that I grew in a pot from seeds. It's an heirloom plant ....

[...] a cultivar that was commonly grown during earlier periods in human history, but which is not used in modern large-scale agriculture. Many heirloom vegetables have kept their traits through open pollination, while fruit varieties such as apples have been propagated over the centuries through grafts and cuttings. The trend of growing heirloom plants in gardens has been growing in popularity in the United States and Europe over the last decade.

I'm a terrible gardener so I'm always thrilled when something actually grows for me. Here's a little about hollyhocks from Wikipedia ....

Alcea rosea (Common Hollyhock; syn. Althaea chinensis Wall., Althaea ficifolia Cav., Althaea rosea Cav.) is an ornamental plant in the Malvaceae family. It was imported into Europe from China in the sixteenth century. William Turner, a herbalist of the time, gave it the name "holyoke" from which the English name derives .....