Wallflowers

I love the scent from Wallflowers on a warm Spring day - now is the time to plant them

I buy our plants bare rooted as it is a much cheaper option for us - this year I phoned to see if the plants were available and was taken aback to be told that all the plants had rotted in the field due to the weather and the only plants available were in pots

Luckily I managed to source some from elsewhere - these plants are quite small but I am hoping they will grow away quickly

I haven't grown Wallflowers in containers but can't see any reason not to - dwarf varieties would probably be more suitable than the really tall ones  

Here are some flowers from last year

Pam LL x

I agree that wallflowers are a very useful plant. They flower throughout the Summer. Some varieties are very attractive to bees and butterflies. I only have a few, and have normally bought them as plugs in February. The plants are beginning to wane now, but still have some flowers on them. This snap was taken two days ago...

I'm still trying to prune my erisimum bowles mauve, but it won't stop flowering!  

I can't deadhead a single stem as they all have flowers at the tips, even though they're really long & floppy.

They have been absolutely amazing this year. I took cuttings rather late, about a month ago, I just hope they'll work, as well as the main plants surviving. I guess it all depends how cold the winter is....

Pam and Gary great photos and thanks for sharing the tips.

Ah that's interesting. I was going to treat it like lavender. Just give it a bit of a haircut, just this year's growth & spent flowers. Maybe I should just deadhead & leave it at that.

It will have to stay in & hope for the best as it's very hard to put things in & out of that border as it's full of bulbs & roses. I guess if it does die I hopefully can see where to put replacements without slicing through too many bulbs!

I 

Thanks Pam for this thread.

I love wallflowers, one of the first plants that I grew from seed, so easy to germinate and to grow on. Great for insects and lovely scent. Atlhough traditionally known as a spring flowering plant, I have had them flowering throughout the summer and now, I don't mean the Bowles Mauve ones ( although I have a couple of those as well)

I'm still learning with the perinnial types- I've been dead heading sporadically over the summer and I have fed them a little too.

Lokelani -mine have also been absolutley brilliant this year. More of a shrub then a plant. They are meant to be very easy to take cuttings of ..........something I should have got around to doing but haven't, maybe next year. I think they maybe alright for a 2nd year. I think trust your instincts, just deadhead and see what happens. They are meant to be hardy, good luck with the cuttings, I have left it too late now, but I do know what you mean about them  still being full of flowers. Like Gary I 've seen butterflies on them last weekend.

For those who have the space outside- I think that growing from seed is the very best way to get loads of healthy bushy plants very cheaply. Just prick out the growing tips after the you have a few sets of true leaves and they are off

The only place we could grow from seed and plant on is on the allotment but we suffer badly with club root  

Pam LL x

Figrat, labelling's a great idea. Just not in this case as I know where they are, they are everywhere!

We planted over 1000. Because it was going to just be a rose border, I wanted something other than bare stems in winter. Other than some lavenders I wasn't going to put anything else in. 

It looked a bit bare, so I grew some annuals & bought a few plants each time I saw ones I liked. The intention was to just replant any bulbs I disturbed, but I always manage to slice one massive bulb or another. 

Must not let myself put any more plants in there. Trouble is they're all so tempting! 

Lilylouise, I've grown wallflowers in pots for years. They work really well, even tall ones if the pot's big enough.

Lokelani, if Bowles Mauve looks too leggy, I cut off the stalks with flowers on the end and put them in water outside. That way they stay in a neat bunch and your bush looks tidier. They last quite well in water outdoors. Mine's doing the same at the moment but it looks really good - a sort of 3D effect. I took a promising photo but it's still in the camera!

Christopher2, I agree that geraniums are brilliant gound cover over bulbs and mostly low-maintenance. But the variety Jolly Bee has been withdrawn, or rather the name has, because it 's turned out to be exactly the same as Rozanne (DNA tested). Some naughty nursery has tried to pass it off as a new variety. It's a great plant - grows in sun or shade and the flowers last for ages because they're sterile. And what a colour!

Here's a clip to Horticulture Week:

By Jack Sidders 16 April 2010

Sorry about the huge print. It doesn't look like that on the site http://www.hortweek.com/news/login/997154/

I'm not a subscriber so I couldn't go further, but there was a court case in 2010 where the name had to be withdrawn. In the RHS Plant Finder, under Jolly Bee it says see Rozanne. Having said that, I've also found several nurseries still listing Jolly Bee, mostly in the US but some in the UK.

I've split mine, and in different sites the colour does look a bit different - more purply in shade. Whatever, it's an A1 beautiful plant, and so unfussy. I have a piece that's been in a small pot for nearly 2 years, waiting for a home, and in spite of drying out more that once it's flowered all summer.

my bowles mauve is now 4 years old and still going strong.. i dead head as soon as hte flowers have gone half way up the stem.. i cut back a bit each year down to the thrid bud up.. to stop getting woody. and then i use them as cuttings.. i have found between jan and june is best time for these..

i also have a stars and stripe variegated pink/red one.. an apricot one which i love.. it is mixed apricot pink and orange.. gorgeous.. these not so tough as bowles one thou.. so take cuttings each year..

i also grown my own wallflowers this year instead of buying them.. saved last years seed and i now have loads of plants.. so many i am selling them up top garden in 9cm for 25p each.. going well they are..

Good thread Lilylouise, I just planted out my Wallflower plugs that I'd grown on this week. I grew them last year from seed and they gave a wonderful display. Some of them have survived in the borders and one lot even now has buds but I'm thinking they won't come to much now it's gotten so cold.

Greenjude it's good to know they do well in pots because I've put some into pots this year as they'd get swamped in the parts of the border where I want them. I'm hoping I can set the pots into the borders or plant them out properly in springtime.

Christopher2, it's a great forum, I agree. I don't come in very often but I'm always here for much longer than I planned. There are so many tips to pick up. What I love too is that people tell you their experiences, not what the books say should happen, so you can find out how a plant really behaved in a given site. You can't always trust plant labels, I've found. Several plants I bought this year turned out to be wrongly named, and some others I knew were wrong, eg, a penstemon labelled scabious.

Ladygardener2, I've found you can leave wallflowers in pots all winter and let them flower in pots. I've got I think 4 that have flowered 2 years running and still look as if they'll flower next year. If you want to plant them in spring, they should settle in without problems.