When you see the wallfower at its brilliant best in early spring it is hard to image that the plant may have survived through the harshest of weathers and at temperatures of minus ten or more.
The Wallflower Cheiranthus is a member of the brassica family and as you may be aware, you harvest cabbage throughout the winter and often when the fields is covered in snow.
The wallflower is a biennial so you will need to be buying in your plants unless you have already grown them from seed.
Try and make sure of your source. I used to buy my plants in as bare root but it is important to know if the soil that your plants are being dug from is clear and has been clear from club root because if you do import infected plants then you will ruin your chances of growing further wallflowers for up to fifteen years.
You also risk contaminating brassica's that you grow as vegetables so be careful. Make sure that you add lime to the area that is to be planted because lime will help resist contamination.
The best way to grow wallflower if you have the time is by growing from seed into soil or compost that you know is free from contamination. However, you will have needed to have grown your plants on through the season so that they can be transplanted into tubs or borders well in advance and why the soil is still warm for flowering early the following year. The best way to establish the plants is to give them enough time for the roots to continue to grow and anchor in late summer for flowering the following spring.
Wallflowers can also suffer with bacterial wilt and gardeners tend to think that this is caused by lack of water. The leaves will droop and lose their chlorophyllic turgidity and the best thing to do is pull the plant out and burn it.
Preparation of your open ground border or site is crucial and wallflowers will benefit greatly from the the mixing of plenty of organic matter including manure and leaf mould. Make sure that the root of the plant is exposed to soil rather than a majority of the compost though.
In the depths of winter you will find that a lot of the lower leaves will go yellow and drop off. Do not be alarmed and as long as the crwon is turgid and intact then it will be fine.
There is an interesting section of a book that has been indexed by Google: Old-Fashioned Garden Flowers: by JOHN WOOD.
Irish Gardeners has and interested section too: Don't be a wallflower, plant them instead.
If you know of an interesting wallflower resource then why not add the link to the comments section below.
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