Anyone know of a natural solution for hollyhock rust? I picked off all of the infected leaves, and low and behold each new leaf keeps getting infected. I know rust overwinters so, what to do? The hollyhock was problem free the first two years. This fall it was leaf miners, which I picked off all the infected leaves and resolved the problem and then the rust. Is this why not may people grow hollyhocks?
I also have a very bad infestation of scales on my pine needle shrub (name?) It's so bad that the shrub looks like its covered in snow. I tried a spray mix of water, vinegar, dish soap and Murphy's Oil Soap to no avail. I also tried dipping a few branches in a sulphur water mix with no results! Help!

The problem with such fungal diseases is that they thrive in warm humid conditions and can be transported by wind, driving rain and even insects moving from host plants to plant. Hollyhocks are very susceptible to the disease, so I would have to recommend weekly spraying of my old favorite of 3% food grade hydrogen peroxide immediately when first signs of rust show.
As for your scale problem, you can purchase parasitic wasps that will help to control them, try spraying a test area with the hydrogen peroxide, or try some rubbing alcohol ( dab on insects only, do not soak the soil).

Wow, a million thanks for the reply. I've posted this question on several different forums with no reply. I'll try it in the spring.

Killing scale requires diligence. Spray the infected plants with a dormant oil/summer oil mixed according to pkg directions. The best time is when the young have hatched and are crawlers. You can check to see if there are crawlers by smacking a branch on a white paper plate. If there are very very tiny specks that are moving, then you have them in the crawler stage and they are easier to kill. Using the oils either dormant or summer, will help to smother and kill the adults. The crawlers appear in spring to midsummer.

Look, I live in Southern California, so humid conditions are not a big problem here, but one of my gardening books recommends trying to harvest seeds from any wild hollyhocks you can find, or see if you can find a gardener who grows them successfully and ask them to share seeds with you. Some hollyhocks are naturally more resistant to rust than others. Also, I found that the first year I planted them, they lost ALL of their leaves to rust, but grew flowers anyway. Then they self propagated (I'm not great at deadheading!) and the next year they came back much sturdier, and with less leaf loss. This is my third year, and they still have rust spots on the leaves, but they are thriving anyway. I don't know if this helps, but hollyhocks are one of my favorite flowers (single blooms! If you want doubles just go to the grocery store and buy carnations) and I wish you luck in growing them.

I think of rust on hollyhocks as simply a minor cosmetic nuisance; they still bloom & look lovely & are so suseptible to this, & yet it seems to do them no real harm except aesthetically. (I have mine in the very back of a mixed perennial bed against a retaining wall & so the rust-y leaves are largely hidden.) It's kind of like leaf-miners in columbines: looks a little bad, but does them no harm really & you can keep after them & cut off the infected leaves, & work your butt off trying to win the battle,..or you can admire the blooms & relax. I've never known either problem to spread to other plants in the bed, at least not in my experience.

I too have scale on my Mungo pine bush... someone suggested neem oil..is this a dormait oil..if not what is ? What causes the scale ? I believe prevention is the best medicine...