Hollyhocks, in bud, before they have bloomed.

Last year in early August I spent some time in the village of Caseneuve in the Luberon in southern France. Hollyhocks were growing everywhere, a riot, an exuberance of Hollyhocks (Rose Tremiere in french). They seem to have the ability to grow anywhere that there is the smallest bit of soil, amongst paving stones, beside houses, between broken bits of pavement.