a two year program

Here is a hollyhock leaf. It's been swelling in size ever since I stuck the seedling in the ground during one of our hot months (I need to keep a better garden journal b/c I can't remember exactly when).

Biennials are one of those "concepts" that make gardeners sound a bit like magician-scientists to non gardeners. Even the whole annual and perennial thing smells like a mystery to the indifferent masses. But simply put, they are like a master's degree program: the first season, they sit around getting acclimated (growing foliage) and then they spend the next year trying to show off (this clump will exit via a flowering spike in late spring).  After that they wilt (move in with their parents).