Grandpa's Hollyhocks~

 I love hollyhocks so much I named my blog after them.

When I started this blog to keep record of our crazy family days, I had a vision of a little farm on a hill with grandpa's hollyhocks growing all over.

 Dreams come true because now we really do live on a farm on top of a hill.

 We have lots of flowers but no hollyhocks yet.

When we went to Grandpa's funeral I looked at all of the hollyhock plants on the property hoping to find some that had gone to seed.  Alas, none.  It was too early.

 But when we came back for Independence Day, Uncle Cal showed me a treasure.

 He had in his shed a hollyhock seed stash kept in an old pillowcase.

 Uncle Eric and I split them up

 to continue the hollyhock tradition for another generation.

Several years ago, we took a cutting from the willow tree, carried it home the 12 hour drive in a water bottle and planted it in a pot.  It did pretty well until a well meaning lawn maintenance guy gave it a trim and it didn't survive.  We are trying again so we can have a willow with a swing for our grand kids on Hollyhock Hill Farm.

We are also on our second Elm sapling.  the first one grew for quite a few years and got pretty big, but unfortunately it's tap root went into a crack in the cement patio at our old house.  When we moved it, it broke and didn't do too well after that.  To finish things off, after we moved it didn't get enough water and that was that.

We have a 6 inch sprout in a little pot on the deck, waiting to get big enough to put into the ground here at the farm.
Thank you, Grandpa, for leaving such a great legacy.  We love you.