Flowers - Wallflower
Wallflower are perennials, but are usually grown as biennials. These flowered in April, although buds started to show in late February. There is a good range of colour.
Wallflowers form flower spikes, which gradually get longer, as the various flowers come out. They are grown as biennials, because, while they can survive another winter and carry on flowering the next year, the plants get bigger and leggier and have less flowers. Not worth it!
Wallflowers are useful, as they are sown in the previous year, and flower early in the year, after the bulbs, but before most other flowers. I grown them from seed (in the vegetable garden!) and transplant them to their final positions in the autumn. You can buy a packet of seed with mixed colours, which I prefer. Sometimes the seedlings don't come up, or get lost! Then I buy wallflower plants. You can get them bare root (which will need planting quickly!) or in pots. This year (2020) when trying to buy plants, I didn't find any, but found winter wallflowers instead. I don't know if these are a different variety, but they flowered bravely in the autumn, and carried on flowering right through the winter. I approve!
Conventional wallflowers:
Winter wallflowers:
Click on photos for large version.
© Jo Edkins 2020 - Return to Garden index