Imperial Cornflower Seeds (Centaurea moschata imperialis)

Centaurea moschata “Imperialis” (syn. Amberboa moschata)

Imperial cornflower, musk centaury, musk cornflower, amber flower: unlike the common cornflower, this one is above all a fragrant flower. Its large, tousled flower heads release a musky, sweet fragrance that perfumes an entire bed—a rare quality among annuals, and one that explains its presence in all the old-fashioned cottage gardens.

Characteristics:

• Large fragrant flowers: tousled flower heads ranging from pure white to deep pink and violet, highly fragrant.
• Long flowering period: from June to September, on slender stems 50 to 70 cm tall.
• Vintage charm: an annual from old-fashioned gardens, now rare in modern catalogs.

Sowing advice:

• Exposure: full sun.
• Soil: light, well-drained, ordinary to poor, preferably alkaline. It tolerates relatively dry conditions once established and requires no fertilization: in soil that is too rich, the stems become elongated and flop.
• Method: no stratification required. Sow directly outdoors from March to May, or as early as February in pots under cover. Germination is quick, taking 7 to 15 days at 15–20 °C. Its taproot does not tolerate late transplanting well, so direct sowing is preferable. See how to sow your seeds.

Care advice:

• Water moderately. Remove faded flowers to encourage further blooming, while leaving a few flower heads for self-seeding.
• Stagger sowings every three weeks to extend flowering through September.

Harvesting advice:

• For bouquets, cut the stems in the morning, when the fragrance is strongest and the flowers have just opened.

Beneficial combinations:

• It creates a fragrant flower meadow with cosmos, Love-in-a-mist and the classic cornflower, its cultivated cousin. See combining flowers in the vegetable garden.

Benefits for biodiversity:

• Its powerful fragrance and large flower heads are particularly attractive to butterflies, as well as bees and bumblebees.
• Its seeds feed goldfinches in autumn if a few flower heads are left to mature.

Uses:

• Flower beds, borders and cottage gardens. Above all, it is an excellent cut flower: its bouquets perfume an entire room.

Symbolism:
Like all centauries, it symbolizes delicacy, nostalgia and the subtlety of feelings. It evokes old-fashioned, romantic gardens.

Harvesting your own seeds:
Leave a few faded flower heads to turn completely brown on the plant, then shake out the seeds over a container: the tufted seeds come away easily. See how to store 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 Auvergne Volcanoes, we choose open-pollinated, non-hybrid varieties, tested for their germination rate, carefully sorted and packaged, without any chemical treatment. Our conviction: to give gardeners back the ability to resow, year after year, seeds that truly belong to them.

Rediscover a fragrant annual from the gardens of yesteryear.