Alcea "Alcea" species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including "Bucculatrix quadrigemina" and "Vanessa cardui", the painted lady. The mallow flea beetle ("Podagrica fuscicornis") is a pest that makes tiny holes in the leaves. Cutworms, aphids, and capsid bugs use the plant as a food source in hotter and drier conditions. A number of weevils use "A. rosea" as their host plant, including "Rhopalapion longirostre", "Alocentron curvirostre", and "Aspidapion validum". The plants are also susceptible to the pathogenic fungus "Puccinia malvacearum", the hollyhock rust. A hollyhock flower, known in Japan as , was incorporated into
San Francisco Flower & Garden Show Francisco Parks Trust). The first show featured a tribute garden to San Francisco landscape architect, Thomas Dolliver Church (1902-1978), designed by Pam-Anela Messenger. For its first eleven years (1986-1997) the show held at Ft. Mason in San Francisco. In 1997 Salmon Bay Events, the Seattle-based company owned by Duane and Alice Kelly that had started the Northwest Flower & Garden Show, acquired the San Francisco Landscape Garden Show, changed its name to the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show, and moved the show from Ft. Mason to the Cow Palace. For the next eleven years (1998-2008) it was held at