Old fashioned hollyhock, Alcea rosea, can be a bit too imposing for small gardens, since their spire like flower stalks can get taller than eight feet. Modern varieties are more proportionate, standing about five or six feet tall. Some are only about two and a half feet tall. Many modern varieties also have fluffier semi-double or double flowers. Those with smaller flowers have denser flower set than old varieties (Flowers are closer together on the stem.).
The three to five inch wide flowers bloom through summer in shades of pink, red, purple, pale yellow, pale orange and white. Removal of spent flower stalks may promote shorter autumn blooms, but also prevents self sowing. Seed can be sown at the end of summer for blooms next year. The coarsely textured and variably lobed basal foliage does not get much wider than two feet. Snails and rust can be problematic.
Tony Tomeo 
My mother grew hollyhocks in the side yard of my childhood home. It was a narrow space, but it was a two-story house, and those tall, tall plants looked good in that setting. I used to make dolls from the flowers: one upside down for the skirt, and a bud on top for the head.
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They had been an old fashioned flower here for a long time, and then became a bit more popular again a few years ago. I am not so keen on them because they do not perform well in the Santa Clara Valley, but they perform better in the Santa Cruz Mountains to the South, as well as in coastal gardens that are sheltered from the wind.
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I should have added that I grew up in Iowa. Hollyhocks really liked it there, as did lilacs and pussy willows and forsythia; I miss them all, despite the other charms of the Gulf coast.
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When I did inspections, I could tell where clients came from by what they added to their gardens. People from New York and Pennsylvania also like forsythia. Texans and Okies also like lilac (but who does not?). Pussy willows were popular more around Iowa, such as Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Hollyhock seems to be popular all the way from New England to Virginia to the Pacific Northwest. Nowadays, agapanthus is becoming more popular in the Pacific Northwest, which I happen to like, but also looks cheap and tacky.
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