Corncockle - Purple Queen - Wild Flower ( Agrostemma githago) Purple Queen Milas Rose Heirloom Wildflowers
Corncockle - Purple Queen - Wild Flower ( Agrostemma githago) Purple Queen Milas Rose Heirloom Wildflowers
Annual
Height 2-3 ft
Our newest favourite wildflower! One of our most beautiful wildflowers we have grown; this delicate little beauty is easily grown and flowers abundantly for weeks during the summertime. Corncockle is a dainty, soft and airy plant with vase shaped flowers that emerge from wispy silver haired pods - like little pink stars.
Each flower has five wavy edged petals that range from light pink to a bright pink accented with freckled darker pink spots and fades to white center. The grey pointed leaves are covered in downy hairs. and the tall upright stems branch out to produce an open cluster of flowering stems that gently move in the breeze. After pollination, each flower becomes a seed pod.
Evidence suggests that corncockle was first brought to Britain from Europe by Iron Age farmers around 2,400 years ago and was known as a cornfield weed because it grew in farmers cornfields. Unfortunately, the large seed pods could easily be screened from the crop seed, and as time went on and with the increased use of herbicides, corncockle began its fast decline since the first half of the twentieth century.
Today, Corncockle is considered exceptionally rare as a cornfield flower; Plantlife’s Ranscombe Farm Reserve in North Kent England, is one of the few last known corncockle stands. Corncockle is making a steady comeback as a beautiful wildflower and meadow flower perfect for cottage gardens and borders.
- Full sun to part shade
- Corncockle is easily grown, but its seed is short-lived once planted in the soil, so it is best to start indoors and transplant or sow direct in spring.
- Start seeds indoors 4-5 weeks prior to last frost. Plant seeds 1/8 in deep. Transplant outdoors when all risk of frost has passed. Spacing 9 to 12 in.
- OR sow directly into the soil where you want plants to live.
- Germinates in 2-3 weeks.
- Good for containers: plant in pots to plant out in early summer
- deadhead to promote blooms
- Well draining soil
- Harvest the seed pods after the flower is pollinated and begins to fade in autumn for next year’s sowing.
- Seed Count: 25