Cornflower Seeds (Centaurea cyanus)

Centaurea cyanus

Cornflower, bachelor's button, bluebottle: the cornflower goes by several names depending on the region, but has one unmistakable blue that long colored French grain fields before herbicides caused it to nearly disappear from cultivated fields. Today, it is blooming again in gardens.

Characteristics:

• Spectacular flowering: branched stems reaching up to 1 meter, bearing deep violet-blue flowers from June to September.
• Easy annual: vigorous and undemanding, it reseeds itself from one year to the next.

Sowing advice:

• Exposure: full sun, essential for dense flowering and sturdy stems.
• Soil: ordinary, preferably light and well drained, even alkaline or poor. It dislikes heavy, damp soils in winter. No fertilization: excess nitrogen produces soft stems that flop.
• Method: sow directly in place by broadcasting in spring, or in autumn in mild regions for earlier flowering. Neither pots nor pre-soaking are necessary. Thin to 20–25 cm apart. Our complete guide: how to sow seeds.

Care advice:

• Water only during prolonged drought and weed around young plants while they become established.
• Light staking can help the tallest plants exposed to wind.

Beneficial combinations:

• The classic wildflower meadow trio: cornflower, wild poppy and California poppy, which share the same need for well-drained soil and plenty of sunlight.

Benefits for biodiversity:

• An excellent nectar plant, much visited by bees, bumblebees and butterflies.
• The cornflower is one of the “arable weeds,” those grain-field flowers now under threat: growing it helps preserve them. See also combining flowers with the vegetable garden.

Uses:

• Cornflower petals are edible and used as colorful garnishes for salads or pastries. More ideas in our article on edible flowers.

Symbolism:
In France, the cornflower is the symbol of remembrance for soldiers who died for their country: the “Bleuet de France” is sold every November 11 and May 8 in tribute to veterans.

Harvesting your own seeds:
Leave the faded flower heads to dry on the plant until they open, then rub out the seeds by hand over a container. Cornflowers readily reseed themselves. Detailed storage information here: storing your seeds from one year to the next.

Commitment to Quality: at SemiSauvage - Permaculture, we grow and select our seeds with respect for all living things as our guiding principle. Based near the Auvergne Volcanoes, we choose open-pollinated, non-hybrid varieties, tested for germination rates, carefully sorted and packaged, without any chemical treatment. Our belief: to give gardeners back the ability to sow, year after year, seeds that truly belong to them.

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