Centaurea macrocephala

I really like Centaurea macrocephala. To me most Centaurea look like little pineapples when in bud and this one especially so. The flowers are bright yellow and the base of the 'pineapple' is covered with shiny, fuzzy brown scales. The plants 3-4 feet tall and bloom in early June. The flowers can be a couple inches across and should be cut while still in this 'pineapple' stage.

I started about 25 of these five years ago and they have faithfully come back year after year. This year I decided I could use a few more and got another packet of seeds from J.L. Hudson for $2 - what a deal.

Setaria italica (Limelight Spray Millet)

There are several ornamental millets grown as cut flowers but this is the only one I know of with green flowers. The panticles emerge from the top of the stalk and gradually bend over as they lengthen. After it bending over they expand and opens out a bit like a fluffy squirrel’s tail. They are pretty at all stages but I find them easier to integrate into bouquets before they start to curve over too much. The flower plume provide interesting contrast with its bright lime green color, unusual shape and fuzzy texture.

Green spray millet with purple Lisianthus 'Twinkle Deep Blue', white Lavatera 'Mont Blanc', and Ammi majus 'Green Mist'.

Molucella laevis (Bells of Ireland)

Bells of Ireland are popular with florists and you will often see them in bouquets at the market and also by the stem at flower shops. The easiest way to grow these is to sow them outside and then they will self-sow for you forever.

Bells of Ireland are very cool looking but are not the easiest thing grow and harvest. They must be staked or grown through support mesh of some kind or they fall over. When using support mesh or string you usually have to use two layers because the stems are fairly weak. You might luck out and get away with not staking other floppy flowers but not this one. Once it falls, the flower spike will quickly turn upward and will look silly if you try to prop it up after that, so figure out how you will support them early and keep an eye on them. The stems are a bit spiny – nothing like a rose bush, but picky enough that you want to be careful. The flower stalks themselves have leaves growing from them which must plucked one by one to achieve the perfect green spike like you see at the florist. These are not the easiest flower to grow but worth the effort for an unusual cut flower.

Green Bells of Ireland with pink and white lisianthus.

Nicotiana alata ‘Lime Green’ (Flowering Tobacco)

I love the GeoSeed catalog description of this flower: “Intense sulphuric green hue, a classic among ornamental tobaccos. If the devil were jealouis he'd wear this in his lapel.” It is more chartreuse than pale green, and I really like it with dark purple lisianthus. There are many ornamental tobaccos but most are not used for cut flowers. You usually only see the shorter bedding tobaccos sold as plants, so this one usually has to be sown from seed. Sow thinly and don’t cover the minute seed because it has a high germination rate and requires light to germinate. All flowering tobaccos are prolific re-seeders so once you have it you will probably always have it. If you like the color, this plant is quite ornamental in the garden.

Clarkia (Satin flower)

Clarkia are very pretty with soft pink, white, red and salmon flowers. They also have a long vase life. However, they are native to the Pacific Northwest and really do best in climates that stay relatively cool and have slower springs than we do. I have been experimenting with them for the past 3 years and each year I get a few more usable stems. If you get any of these in your bouquets this year, take a good look because the harvest season is only a week or two. They burn up quickly if the weather turns hot and are difficult enough in this climate that I would not recommend them for the home garden.

Clarkia used to be called Godetia and you will often see it listed as that. The seeds I am growing this year were listed in the GeoSeed catalog as Godetia 'Flamingo'. For those new to flower gardening (I don’t hear of this much among vegetables) taxonomists are constantly deciding that they have mis-classified something and changing the botanical name. The old name often persists for years so things get confusing. When you look up the botanical name for Feverfew you may find it listed as Tanacetum or Matricaria or Chrysanthemum. While generally deploring the confusion these name changes cause, Alan Armitage in Speciality Cut Flowers, approves of the Godetia to Clarkia change, since it is named for William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Lily Forcing Update

These lilies were planted in their crates about 5 1/2 weeks ago. After about 3 weeks in the garage at around 50F, the lilies started to sprout and the crates were moved to my tiny greenhouse.

If the greenhouse were kept at a constant 70F, the lilies would develop more quickly, but I can’t keep it that warm at night so the lilies have to get by with 70F during late morning to late-afternoon and then down to 45-55F at night. This slows down the forcing by at least a couple weeks and also makes the stems longer.

Signs of Spring

A few more signs of spring around my place. A few crocus are blooming against the house in addition to the snowdrop that has been there for a couple weeks.


There are also some snowdrops now blooming in the open in the shade garden. They have actually been blooming out there for more than a week but the camera took an 8 day vacation to Florida without me, so no pictures until now.

While I was taking pictures of the snowdrops I also noticed these seeds sprouting:



These are seeds of Scilla siberica, the little intense blue scillas that will begin blooming in a few weeks. The seeds begin germinating under the snow in March and by April will look like little blades of grass. I mentioned this once to a friend of mine and a horrified expression came on her face as she said, "Oh NO! I thought they were grass and spent hours pulling them all out!" If you leave those little blades of grass year after year you eventually get that "field of blue" effect that looks so cool in spring.