Wallflower / Cheiranthus

Wallflower Description

Wallflowers are heavily laden, colourful flowers on upright spikes. They have been a favourite with gardeners for many years with their multi-coloured showy displays from Spring onward.

There are many varieties available that come in a wide array of colours including shades of pink, mauve, purple, yellow, orange, and various reds.

Achieving heights of up to 60cm wallflowers are ideal in formal flower beds, cottage garden displays. They are also excellent as cut flowers.

Cultivation of Wallflower Plants

Wallflower seeds should be sown directly into a seed bed in late spring to early summer. Choose a sunny site with good soil.

The plants should be thinned out to about 15cm apart from each other when the first full leaves appear. In the autumn they should be moved to their permanent flowering site, again in full sun, to a distance of about 35cm apart.

To promote bushiness and high densities of blooms the growing tips should be pinched out when the plants reach a height of 12 to 15cm.

Wallflower Pests and Diseases

Wallflowers can be prone to attack by cabbage root fly maggots which causes the plant root to rot and the plant to fail. Plant stunting can also occur as a result of a swelling on the roots called club root.