bristly hollyhocks

It's the end of the hollyhock season. The last flowers try to withstand the heat but are loosing the battle. Now it's time to collect the seeds for next year.

The bristly hollyhock- alcea setosa- is native to the Levant. It starts to appear in the winter and the flowers start to bloom around April. They sort of mark the end of the "green season", the end of the abundance of flowers in the fields.
The colour of the flowers range from light pink to dark bordeaux/ burgundy.

We let the hollyhocks stand until the seeds fall off in order that flowers will appear next year again. We collect some of the seeds  and spread them in the beginning of the winter.