Hollyhocks are a favourite tall plant for the cottage garden.

These plants will self-seed around the garden and come in a wide variety of colours.

Grow hollyhocks in moist but well-drained, light soil in a sunny spot. Taller varieties may need staking. Let seeds develop after flowering before removing and composting the plants, so you can sow seeds of the following year’s hollyhocks without paying a penny for them.

Gardeners World

Alcea is a genus of over 80 species of flowering plants in the mallow family Malvaceae, commonly known as the hollyhocks.  They are native to Asia and Europe. The single species of hollyhock from the Americas, the streambank wild hollyhock, belongs to a different genus. Wikipedia