How to Grow and Care for Persian Violets Exacum affine
20.12.2023 - 14:25 / gardenersworld.com
Stock flower (Matthiola incana), also known as gilly flower or hoary stock, is a hardy biennial plant that brings splashes of colour and a sweet and spicy fragrance to a cottage or informal garden. With clusters of blooms forming a frilly spire of petals and soft narrow green-grey leaves, it also makes a long-lasting cut flower. The species is native to southern Europe and has purple flowers, but many single- and double-flowered cultivars have been developed in a range of colours, from white and yellow through every shade of pink, to red and purple. Stocks attract pollinating insects to the garden.
Stock flower is biennial, meaning it has a two-year life cycle. In the first year, the summer-sown plant develops roots, stems and leaves and survives through winter. In the second year it flowers and sets seed before dying. Stocks are hardy, tolerating all but the hardest frost.
How to grow stock flowersGrow stock flower from seed and plant in full sun in an informal flower border. For a bushier plant with more flower spikes, pinch out the growing tip in spring. Deadhead throughout summer and, when the flower display is over, dig up the plant and add it to your compost heap.
Where to grow stock flowersGrow stocks in full sun unless you get extremely hot summers, where partial shade – with morning sun only – might provide more favourable conditions. It does well in a sheltered spot in moist, well-drained soil and is suitable for a container or a flower border. Plant taller cultivars (up to 60cm) in the middle of a border, shorter ones towards the front. Grow them close to seating areas, so that you can appreciate their sweet and clove-like scent. Stock flower, like the rest of the cabbage family, does not thrive in acid
How to Grow and Care for Persian Violets Exacum affine
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This article has been checked for horticultural accuracy by Oliver Parsons.
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Apricot (Prunus armeniaca) trees produce delicious fruit in summer and growing your own means the fruit can be enjoyed when they are sweet and meltingly ripe, unlike shop-bought fruit, which must be harvested early to be transported while firm. Apricot trees can be grown successfully outside in warmer parts of the UK, notably the south-east of England. Elsewhere, because the beautiful pink blossom is borne in early spring and is therefore liable to frost damage, only grow apricots in large pots and keep under cover for the colder months. When planted in the right conditions, an apricot tree should start producing fruit within two or three years and live for decades.