Erysimum cheiri
Wallflower, common wallflower, yellow wallflower: it grows spontaneously in the cracks of old walls and ruins, clinging to almost nothing. Its honey and clove fragrance, particularly powerful at the end of the day, earned it its name and a place of distinction in gardens since the Middle Ages.
Characteristics:
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Colourful and fragrant: a palette of yellows, oranges, reds and purples, with a sweet, powerful fragrance.
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Compact growth: the dwarf variety forms low clumps 25 to 30 cm tall, perfect for borders and containers.
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Easy to grow: grown as an annual or biennial, it requires very little care.
Sowing advice:
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Exposure: sunny, essential for dense, fragrant flowering.
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Soil: ordinary, preferably poor, dry and calcareous, and above all well drained — its natural habitat, old walls, says a lot about its frugality. It dislikes stagnant moisture in winter, the main cause of failure. No fertilisation needed.
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Method: sow directly in place from April to May for summer flowering, or in June–July for flowering the following spring. Barely cover the seeds. Do not soak or stratify. See how to sow your seeds.
Care advice:
- Water regularly only in dry weather. Remove faded flowers to prolong flowering.
Beneficial combinations:
Benefits for biodiversity:
- Its early flowering and powerful fragrance make it a valuable resource for the first butterflies and bees of the season.
- Like all brassicas, it is a host plant for several butterfly caterpillars, notably whites and orange-tips.
Uses:
- Flower beds, borders, edging, containers, low walls and rockeries. Also excellent for bouquets, thanks to its fragrance.
Harvesting your own seeds:
Allow a few flower stalks to develop their elongated seed pods, then harvest them as soon as they turn brown and dry, before they open on their own. Shell them over a container. Wallflowers readily self-seed in gaps and crevices. See storing 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, with no chemical treatment. Our belief: to give gardeners back the ability to resow, year after year, seeds that truly belong to them.
Add these dwarf wallflower seeds to your garden for colourful, fragrant flower beds.
