Shop

Cornflower can be sown in either spring or autumn as long as conditions allow. For spring sowings, mid to late spring is preferable when the soil isn't too cold and wet.

Scatter the seeds onto a fine, weed-free seedbed and gently rake in. Water regularly after sowing; ensuring the seedbed stays moist. The young seedlings are especially tasty to slugs and snails, so take preventative measures to protect the seedlings as soon as they germinate. To help the plants establish themselves, remove any large weeds to reduce competition.

Autumn sowings will flower slightly earlier than sowings made the following spring. Each plant branches to produce multiple flowers over the season and it isn't uncommmon to still be seeing flowers well into October.

Cornflower is an annual and will die after one season, it will shed its seeds in late autumn providing a new generation for the following season. After the plants have shed their seeds in the autumn, cut the dead vegetation and lightly cultivate the soil to encourage the new seeds to germinate.

Recommended coverage is 3 m².

Cornflower is recognised by the RHS as being particularly beneficial to pollinating insects and thus features on the RHS Plants for Pollinators list. Learn more at rhs.org.uk/plantsforpollinators

The flowers of Cornflower are shallow and the nectar can be accessed by short tongued bees. There are many native pollinators that enjoy visiting the flowers; two of the most common to be seen are honey bees (Apis mellifera) and Red-Tailed Bumblebees (Bombus lapidarius) - as seen on our seed packet.

Cornflower is one of the few wild flowers to have both floral and extrafloral nectaries. The extrafloral nectaries are areas other than the flowers which secrete droplets of nectar to attract visiting insects.

The nectar of Cornflower has a particularly high sugar content of approximately 34% - this provides visiting insects with a great source of energy to fuel their long flights. They will also take the nectar back to the nest for the colony. The high sugar content makes it the perfect nectar for honeybees to make honey from. The tiny pollen grains gather on the bees hair while they gather nectar, the bees then rub the pollen into balls that are carried on the corbiculae (pollen baskets) back to the nest. The pollen is a protein-rich food source for the growing larvae.

After providing a feast for insects during the summer months, the flowers set seed which, once mature, are a favourite food of Goldfinches and other small-seed eating birds.

 Plastic Free 

 Fully Recyclable