Snapdragon seeds (Antirrhinum majus)

Antirrhinum majus

Snapdragon, dog flower, lion’s mouth, calf’s snout: all these names describe the same childhood game, pressing the sides of the flower to make its “mouth” open and close. This mechanism is no accident: only bumblebees, which are heavy and powerful enough, can force their way into the corolla to collect its nectar.

Characteristics:

• Two-lipped flowers: a corolla swollen at the base, resembling an open mouth, borne on upright spikes in a variety of colors.
• Tender perennial: perennial in Mediterranean climates (down to -5 °C), it is most often grown as an annual elsewhere.
• Versatile: flower beds, wildflower meadows, patio or balcony containers, and an excellent cut flower.

Sowing advice:

• Exposure: sunny; it tolerates light partial shade.
• Soil: undemanding and ordinary, but must be well drained and preferably alkaline. Waterlogging in winter is fatal long before the cold. No fertilization is needed.
• Method: sow in pots under cover from February to March, on the surface without covering: the very fine seeds need light to germinate. Transplant after the frosts. Pinch out young plants to encourage branching. See how to sow your seeds.

Care advice:

• Water regularly during dry weather, without excess water that could cause the roots to rot.
• Cut faded flower spikes back at the base to trigger a second flush of blooms in late summer.

Beneficial combinations:

• It pairs beautifully with other annuals for flower beds, such as cosmos or zinnia, adding the vertical structure they lack. See combining flowers in the vegetable garden.

Benefits for biodiversity:

• Its closed flower is a true biological lock: only large bumblebees can open it, making it an almost exclusive and valuable resource for them.
• Its long flowering period, from spring until the frosts, spreads resources throughout the season.

Uses:

• An excellent cut flower with a long vase life: cut the stem when the lower third of the flowers is open.

Harvesting your own seeds:
Mature seed capsules take on the surprising shape of a small skull riddled with holes: let them turn brown on the plant, then turn the stem upside down over a bag to release the seeds. Snapdragons also readily self-seed. See how to save your seeds.

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

Add the colorful vertical structure of snapdragons to your flower beds and summer bouquets.