Our plant of the month for September is the delicious and prolific flowering mix, wallflower ‘Sunset Tutti Frutti’. This fabulous mix features red, purple, orange and yellow, plus a sweet honey-like scent.
Wallflowers are loved by gardeners for their huge range of vibrantly coloured flowers and vigorous, strong flowering power that goes on for months and months. The ‘Sunset’ is a biennial mix which means they will flower the spring after they have been planted and as a hybrid, they will have an even longer flowering season than most wallflowers, even in poor soil conditions. It’s no wonder they are a favourite and made it to plant of the month! Due to their love of poor conditions, they can often be seen growing out of stone walls in cottage gardens – it’s from this they were given the common name of wallflowers.
The spectacular spring-coloured flowers act as a valuable source of early nectar for bees and butterflies.
Growing to just a foot tall, this gorgeous mix looks just spectacular when mass planted in containers to create a block of colour or planted through borders in drifts for a stunning colour contrast with other spring flowers.
Have you thought about wall flowers as a cut flower? They are long lasting once cut and will fill your home with fragrance.
Supplied as 10 garden ready plants, ready to be planted out, reaching a height, and spread of 30 cm (1 ft) –
Top tips
- Wallflowers need a planted position in full sun.
- When planting your garden ready wallflowers, mulch around them with a thin layer of mushroom or garden compost to help retain moisture in the soil and suppress weeds.
- Deadhead and remove any seed pods to prolong flowering.
- For planting tips, please see here.
Caring for your wallflower mix
Give your garden ready plants a little attention on arrival. Unpack them immediately, and either mist them or stand them in water for an hour. They may be slightly dry or yellow after being in a dark box in the post, but they’ll quickly recover. If you can’t, they can sit in Mini Greenhouses for a week if upright and not too wet. We recommend they’re left to settle for a day somewhere warm, light, and airy such as a windowsill or greenhouse. If planting directly into flower beds, prepare the ground well, removing weeds and digging in compost or well-rotted manure if your soil is not already rich. Plant approximately 30 cm apart to allow them room to grow.
Feed using a high-potash feed such as Blooming Fast Superior Soluble Fertiliser for Flowers & Fruits, to encourage flowering.
