Hollyhock Blackberry

A hollyhock dark enough to stop people mid-path. 'Blackberry' opens deep wine-purple and deepens further as the flower ages, reading as near-black in shade and showing its true colour only when the sun catches it directly.

Like all the tall hollyhocks it wants a back-of-border position with something solid behind it, and it will reach two metres in reasonable ground. Against limewash, pale brick or a weathered fence the effect is worth the two-year wait.

Sow in summer for flowers the following year. On exposed sites give it a cane, since a two-metre spire carrying wet flowers is heavier than it looks in a Norfolk gale.