How to Grow Wallflowers

Wallflowers are some of our most popular spring flowering plants. They are part of a group of plants we call Hardy Biennials, which means they grow and develop this year then flower next year. If you’d love masses of early flowers in your garden for wildlife, for cut flowers and beautiful plants to accompany your spring bulbs, then Wallflowers could be ideal for you.

I’m a great fan of planning ahead and making things easy in the garden. Sowing this summer will really pay off. Just sow a couple of packets of Wallflower seeds now for flowering next spring and you’ll be rewarded with lots of beautiful flowers and your local wildlife will thank you for it too! Wallflowers provide an early source of food for beneficial insects and many have the RHS Plants for Pollinators award too.

Wallflower seed is available in single colours such as White, Primrose, Orange and Red so it’s easy to select your favourite then plan a spring colour scheme for your containers, borders or entire garden. The photo below shows Primrose Dame and Fireking Wallflowers,

This year I’ve grown a mix of Sunset Wallflowers for the first time. They are quite lovely. For months in spring I had healthy, bushy plants with tall flower spikes and the most beautiful scented flowers. The seed is more expensive than most Wallflower seeds, but they are so amazing and worth that little extra, I think. Sunset Wallflowers are F1 Hybrids which produce top quality plants. Their flowers have variations of colour like a sunset, so they are really attractive. I’m growing them again for next spring as they were particularly lovely with our tulips and daffodils.

Wallflower ‘F1 Sunset Mixed’

This lovely new Wallflower produces clusters of scented flowers on strong stems. Each flower head is made up of many individual flowers which gives them a most attractive appearance. Blooms are produced early in the year at the same time as Tulips flower from March to the end of May. The Sunset Mix Wallflowers include a range of colours from rich purple and red, primrose, white and apricot to bronze and glorious rich orange flowers. They are jolly useful in the garden, in container or in a border with Tulips and other spring blooms and they’re lovely as a cut flower too. What’s more the RHS recommend Sunset Wallflowers as Perfect for Pollinators.

Grow a row of these in the cutting patch, as bedding plants or in bold groups in a mixed border in full sun for best results. Sunset Wallflowers cost a little more than other Wallflowers, but they are extremely easy to grow and very prolific giving you lots of flowers for not much time or effort!

Genus & Variety: Cheiranthus cheiri (was Erysimum cheiri)  F1 Sunset Mixed
Plant Type:  Hardy Biennial
Height & Spread: 40cm ( 16 inches ) tall x 30cm (12 inches) spread

How to Sow and Grow Wallflowers from Seed

  • Sow Seeds: Sow Wallflower seeds outdoors in a well-prepared seedbed when the soil is warm from the end of May/June to August. Alternatively sow in modules either indoors or outdoors but be careful to keep shaded and temperatures low. Wallflowers will not germinate well in heat. Keep seed trays moist and shaded. Germinates in 7-14 days at 15°C-18°C. Grow on then plant out six weeks later in August/early September. 
  • Thin/Plant Out:  Transplant to flowering position in autumn allowing plenty of space for the foliage and roots to develop before winter sets in. Allow a minimum of 30cm per plant.
  • Conditions Required: Wallflowers love moist but well drained soil. They prefer a site with plenty of sunshine and can also grow well in dappled shade. Sunset Mixed Wallflowers are great for containers too. Feed and water regularly to keep flower production going. 
  • Flower Production: Sow Wallflowers this summer for flowering next spring. Like many biennials, Wallflowers bloom early in the year, usually from March onwards. They are great for filling the gap before hardy annuals and perennials come into flower in June. Clusters of scented blooms are produced for up to three months until the end of May.
  • Picking: Cut flowers regularly and deadhead to make sure that your plants continue to produce new blooms. When cutting, strip the lower leaves, sear stem ends in boiling water for 20 seconds and place the cut flowers into a tall bucket of clean water. Allow to rest overnight before arranging. Wallflowers often last up to 10 days as a cut flower.
  • Planting Combinations: If you have the space, I suggest you grow plenty of lovely Wallflowers. You can never have too many! Wallflowers grow particularly well with Tulips, Daffodils and other spring flowering bulbs either in flower beds, borders or in large containers

Hot Weather Notes

One really important point to note from the Sowing and Growing Information above is that Wallflowers do not germinate well when it’s hot. As it’s hot all over the UK this week (25°C-35°C) and wallflowers prefer much cooler conditions (15°C-18°C) I recommend waiting until temperatures return to normal next week before sowing your Wallflower seeds.

Sow Direct or Sow in Modules/Seed Trays?

I usually hedge my bets by sowing directly into the ground AND sowing in trays or modules. We have plenty of wild creatures here including voles and mice, blackbirds and Mallard ducks which may damage or disturb tender young seedlings. We love all the wildlife… but I really love having plenty of home-grown plants too!  Positioning seed trays in a shady spot outdoors such as in the gap between rows of Sweet Peas or at the base of tall annuals such as Cosmos means that the seeds can develop and grow undisturbed AND it’s more likely that I’ll remember to water them too!

Are you growing Wallflowers from seed this summer?
Which is your favourite variety or colour… I’d love to know.

Happy Gardening! Gillian 🙂

Wallflower Giant Pink

 

Giant Pink Wallflowers are still available in the Pink and White Biennial Flowers Collection. I have a few boxes left and they will sell out fast so to be completely fair it’s first come first served. Sow them this month then your young plants will carry on growing whilst the soil is still warm this autumn. All the seeds in this collection are Hardy Biennials so they will not only survive but thrive outside throughout the winter months then burst into life again in spring. You’ll have a good selection of early pink and white blooms which are lovely in the garden with tulips, perfect for pollinators and excellent for cut flowers of course. There are 6 packets of seed in this collection for £9.95.

Continue reading Wallflower Giant Pink

Papaver nudicaule Champagne Bubbles

Summer is the time to sow Iceland Poppies and here are my favourites right now. I love this new variety Papaver nudicaule ‘Champagne Bubbles’. They really are the most beautiful flowers to grow from seed. Poppy seeds are so tiny it’s hard to believe that such beautiful blooms are produced in just a few months. I was completely blown away by the large colourful flowers when I took these photos in April in my greenhouse. They have gorgeous open papery blooms which open like crumpled silk. Flowers are all shades of orange, pink, yellow, red and white. They are extremely hardy and will tolerate cold winters. Flowers are produced in late spring and early summer before the rest of the garden really gets going. I’m always looking for some early plants for my garden and these fit the bill beautifully. If you’re looking for some colour in your garden in spring and early summer too then Iceland Poppies may be just the thing for you.

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Growing Biennials from Seed

Now is the time to sow Biennial Seeds. But what exactly are they and why do we need to sow them in summer?

What are Biennials?

Biennials are hardy plants which are grown from seeds sown this summer. They produce roots and foliage this year then burst into life next spring with masses more foliage, long stems and lots of flowers in late spring and early summer. Sown this summer they have eight to ten months to grow into super strong, healthy plants.

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Sowing Biennials

Hesperis-MatronalisWhat are Biennials?

Biennials are hardy plants which grow roots and foliage this year then flower next year. Sown in summer they have around eight months to produce super strong healthy plants which are capable of producing lots of lovely strong flower stems from late spring onwards.

Why grow Biennials? Biennials are brilliant for early flowers next year. They usually start blooming in May and finish in July although there are exceptions. A patch of Hesperis (Sweet Rocket) in our garden has been flowering since April and is still producing lovely pale purple blooms in August. If you like to grow flowers for your home or you have a special event in late spring or maybe you are planning to sell cut flowers next year…  you’ll find biennials very reliable and super productive. They are inexpensive to grow from seed, healthy and vigorous and more to the point don’t need much attention from the gardener.
What’s not to love?

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Looking Good 1st July

I saw a stunning planting combination today that I wanted to share with you. I wish I could say that this was in my garden. But it’s not… it’s in a neighbourhood garden. Who would have thought that bright pink and yellow could look so good together? The pink flowers with silver foliage are Lychnis coronaria and the yellow spires are Verbascum nigrum. Both are very easy to grow from plants bought from your local nursery or garden centre or they can be grown from seeds. Sowing seeds is the best option if you want a lot of plants to create an amazing display like this.

Verbascum&Lychnis-Collage

I love the pinky purple haired stamens at the centre of each tiny Verbascum flower which picks up the vivid pink of the Lychnis petals.

Verbascum-IG

Unlike most other Verbascums this one doesn’t have silver felted leaves but softly hairy green leaves.

Verbascum&Lychnis

Bees and Hoverflies love this Verbascum as it is rich in nectar and pollen… and so does the Mullein Moth. If you grow a patch of these it’s likely you’ll attract flocks of Goldfinches to feed on the seeds in autumn. It makes sense to grow plenty! Strictly speaking Verbascum nigrim is a short lived perennial but they are often treated as biennials with a fresh batch sown each summer for flowering next year.

Now is the time to sow biennial seeds.
There are several advantages to growing your own biennials:

  • The amount of flowers they produce is amazing and they are great for cut flowers.
  • Early flowering from April onwards
  • Extremely easy to grow and great for massed planting schemes
  • Inexpensive.You can sow several packet of seeds for the price of just one plant in spring.

    It’s worth planning ahead especially if you are starting a cutting patch or simply improving your spring garden. Early flowering plants such as Honesty, Wallflowers, Foxgloves, Forget-me-Not, Sweet Rocket and Sweet William can be sown this summer as well as Verbascum nigrum. If you have space for a seed bed outdoors they can be sown there and left to grow on until autumn. Alternatively they can be raised in modules then moved to small pots ready for planting out when your summer display is over.

Love GillianSo that’s what I’ll be doing this weekend. Sowing biennial seeds Woo Hoo! It’s good to have a plan!

You are most welcome to join in with Looking Good this week.

Do you have gardening plans for this weekend? Hope it’s dry for you! Gillian 🙂