Matthiola incana 'Column Apricot'
traditional field-grown column stocks
- approx 100 seeds
- £3.99
- In stock (shipped within 3-5 working days)
Delivery options
- Seed Packets (only) £2.95
- Position: Full sun
- Soil: Moderately fertile, moist but well drained soil
- Rate of growth: Fast
- Hardiness: Hardy biennial (often grown as an annual)
Stocks are unmatched for their fragrance, flower displays and ease of growing, and ‘Apricot’ is no exception. Beautiful, blousy, and blooming in time from Valentines from an October sowing, the grey-green rosette of foliage gives rise to sweetly-scented and loosely branched double pinkish-apricot flowering spikes, ideal for the cut flower vase. Sown in early spring under glass, a fragrant bed of stocks in the garden can be had in as little as 90 days, and a succession of sowings will provide continuous flower and scent to summer borders well into autumn.
Keep watered during dry spells and apply a monthly, liquid, general-purpose fertiliser during the growing season. Pinch out the top as they grow to encourage branching and more flower spikes, cutting back the main stem once flowers have faded to encourage side shoots to bloom too.
Sowing instructions:
Fill trays with good quality compost and lightly cover the seeds. Water and grow on at 13-18°C. Prick out seedlings with a green/yellow colour and discard the dark green ones which will produce only single flowers. Pot on when they have put on their first true leaves and then harden off before planting out at 20-30cm intervals after the frosts have passed. Seeds sown in autumn and overwintered in a frost-free frame, will produce plants which will flower earlier in the year, than those sown in spring.
- Sow: October to November or February to March
- Flowering: June to October
