The Flowers You Need to Sow Now

Every year around this time I start sowing seeds that won’t flower until the following spring and summer and I urge you to do the same.

On paper, it can feel a little strange, sowing seeds when the garden is full of fresh growth and flowers, but those seeds sown now are invaluable. They help fill what I call the "hungry gap" between the spring bulbs finishing and the summer annuals beginning.

In gardening, timing is everything and some of the most valuable plants in my garden need this head start, taking almost a full year to grow from seed to flower

To start, so we're all on the same page, a biennial is a plant that takes two growing seasons to complete its life cycle, growing foliage in its first year before flowering, setting seed and dying in its second. For many years I didn’t pay enough attention to these flowers and pretty much every year I regretted not giving them more time and attention.

If we stop and observe these plants in their natural environment we can see that from about mid May onwards is when they begin to set seed. Starting with honesty and sweet rocket followed by the foxgloves and hollyhocks. Their season is long, but already they are beginning to lay the foundations for next years growth. So it makes sense that, if we wish to invite these plants into our garden that now is the right time to sow them.

Right now in my garden, it’s mid June, I have tall spires of fox gloves filling my borders and the bright blousy blooms of sweet williams providing some much needed colour for my borders and pots.

Earlier in May, sweet rocket drifted through my garden with arching stems of white and lilac flowers that brought romance and airiness to the borders. My honesty has been picked and is already hanging in the studio, ready for use in the winter.

Many of these flowers will happily self-seed, yet each year I still sow a few more to fill any gaps that appear in the borders and to ensure I have plenty for cutting.

We are looking to raise big healthy plants that are ready to be planted out into the garden by end of August/early September. These plants will go dormant over the winter period, and so need time to set down their roots ahead of the cold season.

Sowing towards the middle to end of June allows 8-10 weeks to get these plants growing and in a good place ahead of planting out.

It’s worth paying attention to the weather when deciding when to sow your bi-annuals. We are in the middle of a heat wave here in the UK and I’m waiting until the heat subsides before I begin to sow my seeds.

The ideal temperature for germination is around 15–20°C and, as things stand at the moment, the daytime temperature here hasn't dropped below 30°C for over a week.. So I’ll be patient and wait that little bit longer.