Honeywort major purpurescens

Hardy Annual
T&M Original

• Flowers in : Late Spring to Summer
• Germination : Easy
• Aftercare : Easy
• Ideal for : Borders, Wildlife Garden
• Height : 30 inches

Description

A highly versatile, aristocratic border plant. The fleshy blue-green leaves with white mottling, spiral up the stem, transforming themselves into tighter packed, sea blue bracts - and then the finale - small clusters of rich purple/blue tubular, nodding flowers, which are cream inside and loved by bees. As an evergreen, Mediterranean native, give some protection during hard winters. Height: 60-75cm (24-30in).

 Customer Rating

Reviews
Striking and smart flowering border plant
By Luci Power 12-08-2011
My cerinthe plants were raised easily from these seed earlier this year and they are the most impressive plants in my borders! A group of these add glamour and calm amongst other more floriferous plants - mine are surrounded by feathery cosmos and the combination seems to work well. They are strong and ordered with cool succulent blue/green leaves and visually stand out despite being restrained in colour. I received these cerinthe seeds as part of an offer of 10 lucky dip packets of seeds and I will put them on my annual seed shopping list from now onwards!

The "marmite" plant
By Angela Greaves 14-06-2011
I call this the "marmite" plant. I absolutely love it. Ideal for a dry sunny border, with lovely flower heads of irredescent blue/pink and blue bracts. Fantastic grown with California poppy, and this year I've grown it amongst lavender, marjoram and sage, which disguises it's succulent spotty leaves, which are maybe more of an acquired taste for some. Try it out. All my seeds were successful from the T&M pack.

Sowing Instructions

Sow in spring 1.5mm (1/16in) deep in a good seed compost. Make sure the compost is moist but not wet and seal inside a polythene bag until germination which usually takes 5-21 days at 21C (70F). The seed can also be sown in mid to late spring where it is to flower and covered to a depth of 3mm (1/8in).

Growing Instructions

Transplant the seedlings when large enough to handle into boxes, spacing them 5cm (2in) apart. Gradually acclimatise to outdoor conditions for 10-15 days before planting out after all risk of frost 15cm (6in) apart in full sun and ordinary well-drained soil.