Wild British Cornflower, 5 g - 1000 Seeds - Covers 3 m²
Wild British Cornflower, 5 g - 1000 Seeds - Covers 3 m²
- Easy to grow
- Beautiful composite flower heads
- Likes most soil types
Native British Wildflower
Pollinators
Honey Bees
Bumblebees
Solitary Bees
Butterflies
Wild British cornflower seeds produce one of Britain’s most recognisable native annual wildflowers, with vivid blue, star-shaped flowers held above fine grey-green foliage. Once a familiar sight in arable fields, cornflowers now play an important role in restoring colour and insect life to gardens, wildlife margins, and meadow plantings.
These easy-to-grow seeds establish readily in most well-drained soils and reward even small patches of ground with weeks of bright summer flowers. Like many traditional arable wildflowers, Centaurea cyanus performs well in lighter, lower-fertility soils where competition from grasses is limited.
Cornflowers are particularly valuable for pollinators, attracting a steady flow of honey bees, bumblebees, solitary bees, and butterflies throughout the flowering period. Their open flower structure, along with extra floral nectaries on the foliage, provides additional nectar sources for beneficial insects, helping increase pollinator activity across the garden.
Seed coverage
A 5 g packet contains approximately 1000 cornflower seeds, enough to sow around 3 m² at a dense rate for a strong, colourful display. If scattered more thinly as part of a mixed wildflower area, the same packet can comfortably stretch to 6–10 m² depending on spacing and soil conditions. Many gardeners prefer a lighter sowing to create a natural meadow-style patch, allowing each plant space to develop sturdy stems and branching flowers.
Wild cornflower works well in wildflower meadows, pollinator strips, cottage-style vegetable gardens, and mixed annual wildflower areas. In productive gardens, the increased insect activity also helps support pollination of nearby crops. For the strongest displays, sow cornflower seeds in autumn or early spring, scattered onto lightly raked soil where they can establish naturally.
With a little space and the right conditions, cornflowers quickly bring colour, movement, and the gentle hum of pollinating insects back into the garden.
Sowing Instructions
-
Scatter seeds onto a fine, weed-free seedbed and gently rake in.
-
Keep the seedbed moist after sowing for successful germination.
-
Protect young seedlings from slugs and snails.
-
Remove weeds as seedlings grow to reduce competition.
-
Autumn sowings may flower slightly earlier than spring sowings.
-
After flowering, cut back dead vegetation and lightly cultivate to encourage natural reseeding.
Features on the Royal Horticultural Society's Plants for Pollinators list due to its pollen and nectar producing qualities.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sow outdoors | ||||||||||||
| Flowering |
You may also like
Right now is the ideal time to start sowing cornflowers. They are beautiful, and look fantastic in a border or flower meadow. They stay in bloom for around 3 or 4 months. Although they are an annual wildflower, they readily self-seed, so should keep coming back every year. Bees love them, so it’s well worth planting some if you have the space. We have a small orchard at the top of our garden, which is already covered in thousands of daffodils and primroses at the moment. I’m hoping these cornflowers are going to make a stunning addition.They take around 2 -4 weeks to germinate, so if that doesn’t happen successfully, I’ll come back and update this review. Although you can direct sew by scattering onto soil, I’m going to be individually planting mine in cells, to give them the best start once they get to a good size. If I didn’t do this, I think there would be too much competition for nutrients from the grass, so I’ll slot then into the grassy area, as larger individual plants.The seeds in this pack are large enough to handle individually, and each one is capable of producing a plant. I’m not counting them, but there are supposed to be around 1000 seeds in this pack, which makes them excellent value for money. The Illustration on the front of the pack is really pretty. Inside the outer envelope, the seeds are in a resealable (if you carefully open it without tearing) compostable glassine envelope. There are clear and extensive sowing instructions provided on the back of the outer pack. The seeds I received originate from the UK, and are very fresh, having 2 years left before they need to be sowed.
I chose these seeds as I love cornflowers, but I have never tried to grow them myself.This pack of Cornflower seeds by Roselyn Seeds arrives well packaged, so there is no danger of the seeds escaping. The pack contains approximately 1000 seeds (though I have to admit I have not counted them !).My pack of seeds was packaged on 26/02/25 and they have a Sow By date of Y/E 2027.The seeds are of UK origin and Cornflowers are great for pollinators.The seeds can be sewn in March/April/May for Summer flowering or in Aug/Sept/Oct for Spring flowering. I plan to sew half this Spring and half in the Autumn.As I have only just received the seeds I cannot comment on the germination, but I will hopefully be able to update my review with photos of beautiful Cornflowers later in the year. For now, everything seems excellent quality, and at £4.85 for 1000 seeds they are good value too.
Well, it’s difficult to review a packet of seeds when they haven’t bloomed yet, but I’ll try my best. In case you are unfamiliar, the cornflower is a wildflower that can be found growing naturally in fields & meadows. You sometimes get them included when you buy a mixed packet of wildflowers or one of those “bee bombs” but generally they tend to be a little bit rarer in the mix. This is a packet of over 1000 seeds. As you can imagine, the seeds are quite small however they’re a light colour make them easy to spot amongst the soil and therefore plant evenly. Because they’re a wildflower you can just saw them straight into the soil where you want them to bloom. They can tolerate a bit of frost if it’s not too severe and not too long, (how do you think they survive in nature?) but better to wait until spring is well underway before you start these off. (I like to get a Headstart by planting these in those compostable cardboard pots that can be planted straight in the ground)I will post a picture when they have bloomed, but right now I’m pleased with the item. Will give it four stars hoping to go up to 5 when they’re in full bloom. Watch this space!UPDATE: well they’ve started to bloom and they’re a beautiful blue flower. I put them in little clumps against a fence panel because they can be a bit leggy and wilt, so the fence affords them a bit of protection. 5 starts. No complaints here!
A nice packet of cornflower seeds, these seeds will bloom out into nice blue flowers.I’ve scattered the seeds in the flower beds of my garden, there was a good amount of seeds in the packet. Was easy to plant as just scattered them about.The seeds will be great for the bees once they come out.
They germinated and grew into beautiful flowers of royal blue.
The packet of seeds that I received is exactly the same as those shown in the listing. Inside the outer package, the seeds are contained within a recyclable, paper packet - a nice touch! The seeds are dry and, without counting them, I'd say that there's approximately 1000 there! All of the seeds appear to be other same variety.I haven't tried planting them yet, so am unable to comment on growth rate, colour etc.
The seed packet is pretty and the instructions are clear. I have planted the seeds and i am waiting for them to grow. I'm looking forward to watching them bloom.
Planted all seeds and they germinated really quickly. Now I’ve transplanted them and can’t wait to see them flower.Great value for money.
The packaging was informative and explained everything perfectly!I have now sowed the seeds but they have yet to grow yet (it does take a while) i will most liklely edit if I can when they do grow.
At the time of writing this review in mid-April 2025, I am only one day after sowing my first drifts of these seeds and, therefore, can only write about my first impressions. However, I have been growing and sometimes harvesting conrflowers in my current garden since the day I moved in over ten years ago. Therefore, I am well experienced in what a cornflower seed looks like. I've also managed to make some self-harvested seeds go stale in the past, so I also know what a bad batch looks like. Therefore, this review will be updated with future parts to note germination success and growth.Consider this to be part one of my review, tbc...The seed packet is well printed, colourful, and informative and looks just like any seed packet type you would find in a garden centre. The seeds are kept inside in a waxed paper sachet rather than the foil packets many seeds come in.Looking at the seeds they have been cleaned throughly of any tufts and have an almost washed appearance about them - they are that clean. All look viable and healthy and give me no concern for growing. So, yesterday I scattered some about a freshly dug bed in my meadow garden for 'memorial wildflowers' for people I've lost in recent months. It'll be a couple of weeks before germination is fully evident.That's all I can say for now, for part one of this review. In a few weeks' time I'll update this review with a part two progress update. Then, later in the season, there will be a final part three (if I remember) showing them in bloom. All future updates will appear below here.----------
I was surprised to see that the packaging claims that there are 1000 seeds - it certainly doesn't look anywhere near that many, the seeds are a few mm long. I wasn't going to count them, so I did a Google search as to the weight of a cornflower seed, and it does indeed seem that you would get at least in the very high hundreds with 5g worth.I waited to sow these until about 11 days ago after the temperatures started to rise into the mid-teens or more during daytime, and they are now sprouting in considerable numbers, ahead of the minimum 14 days figure quoted. The important thing to know really with seeds is whether they are going to germinate successfully - once they have done that everything should be fine thereafter (barring slugs and snails of course).
I live in a big city and there are lots of patches of soil and even a small park near me which are not planted. This year I'm planting native bee-friendly wildflowers on these patches.Good to have these seeds from UK. Won't know if they bloom this summer as will take a few months and will update if no success.
Right now is the ideal time to start sowing cornflowers. They are beautiful, and look fantastic in a border or flower meadow. They stay in bloom for around 3 or 4 months. Although they are an annual wildflower, they readily self-seed, so should keep coming back every year. Bees love them, so it’s well worth planting some if you have the space. We have a small orchard at the top of our garden, which is already covered in thousands of daffodils and primroses at the moment. I’m hoping these cornflowers are going to make a stunning addition.They take around 2 -4 weeks to germinate, so if that doesn’t happen successfully, I’ll come back and update this review. Although you can direct sew by scattering onto soil, I’m going to be individually planting mine in cells, to give them the best start once they get to a good size. If I didn’t do this, I think there would be too much competition for nutrients from the grass, so I’ll slot then into the grassy area, as larger individual plants.The seeds in this pack are large enough to handle individually, and each one is capable of producing a plant. I’m not counting them, but there are supposed to be around 1000 seeds in this pack, which makes them excellent value for money. The Illustration on the front of the pack is really pretty. Inside the outer envelope, the seeds are in a resealable (if you carefully open it without tearing) compostable glassine envelope. There are clear and extensive sowing instructions provided on the back of the outer pack. The seeds I received originate from the UK, and are very fresh, having 2 years left before they need to be sowed.
I chose these seeds as I love cornflowers, but I have never tried to grow them myself.This pack of Cornflower seeds by Roselyn Seeds arrives well packaged, so there is no danger of the seeds escaping. The pack contains approximately 1000 seeds (though I have to admit I have not counted them !).My pack of seeds was packaged on 26/02/25 and they have a Sow By date of Y/E 2027.The seeds are of UK origin and Cornflowers are great for pollinators.The seeds can be sewn in March/April/May for Summer flowering or in Aug/Sept/Oct for Spring flowering. I plan to sew half this Spring and half in the Autumn.As I have only just received the seeds I cannot comment on the germination, but I will hopefully be able to update my review with photos of beautiful Cornflowers later in the year. For now, everything seems excellent quality, and at £4.85 for 1000 seeds they are good value too.
Well, it’s difficult to review a packet of seeds when they haven’t bloomed yet, but I’ll try my best. In case you are unfamiliar, the cornflower is a wildflower that can be found growing naturally in fields & meadows. You sometimes get them included when you buy a mixed packet of wildflowers or one of those “bee bombs” but generally they tend to be a little bit rarer in the mix. This is a packet of over 1000 seeds. As you can imagine, the seeds are quite small however they’re a light colour make them easy to spot amongst the soil and therefore plant evenly. Because they’re a wildflower you can just saw them straight into the soil where you want them to bloom. They can tolerate a bit of frost if it’s not too severe and not too long, (how do you think they survive in nature?) but better to wait until spring is well underway before you start these off. (I like to get a Headstart by planting these in those compostable cardboard pots that can be planted straight in the ground)I will post a picture when they have bloomed, but right now I’m pleased with the item. Will give it four stars hoping to go up to 5 when they’re in full bloom. Watch this space!UPDATE: well they’ve started to bloom and they’re a beautiful blue flower. I put them in little clumps against a fence panel because they can be a bit leggy and wilt, so the fence affords them a bit of protection. 5 starts. No complaints here!
A nice packet of cornflower seeds, these seeds will bloom out into nice blue flowers.I’ve scattered the seeds in the flower beds of my garden, there was a good amount of seeds in the packet. Was easy to plant as just scattered them about.The seeds will be great for the bees once they come out.
They germinated and grew into beautiful flowers of royal blue.
The packet of seeds that I received is exactly the same as those shown in the listing. Inside the outer package, the seeds are contained within a recyclable, paper packet - a nice touch! The seeds are dry and, without counting them, I'd say that there's approximately 1000 there! All of the seeds appear to be other same variety.I haven't tried planting them yet, so am unable to comment on growth rate, colour etc.
The seed packet is pretty and the instructions are clear. I have planted the seeds and i am waiting for them to grow. I'm looking forward to watching them bloom.
Planted all seeds and they germinated really quickly. Now I’ve transplanted them and can’t wait to see them flower.Great value for money.
The packaging was informative and explained everything perfectly!I have now sowed the seeds but they have yet to grow yet (it does take a while) i will most liklely edit if I can when they do grow.
At the time of writing this review in mid-April 2025, I am only one day after sowing my first drifts of these seeds and, therefore, can only write about my first impressions. However, I have been growing and sometimes harvesting conrflowers in my current garden since the day I moved in over ten years ago. Therefore, I am well experienced in what a cornflower seed looks like. I've also managed to make some self-harvested seeds go stale in the past, so I also know what a bad batch looks like. Therefore, this review will be updated with future parts to note germination success and growth.Consider this to be part one of my review, tbc...The seed packet is well printed, colourful, and informative and looks just like any seed packet type you would find in a garden centre. The seeds are kept inside in a waxed paper sachet rather than the foil packets many seeds come in.Looking at the seeds they have been cleaned throughly of any tufts and have an almost washed appearance about them - they are that clean. All look viable and healthy and give me no concern for growing. So, yesterday I scattered some about a freshly dug bed in my meadow garden for 'memorial wildflowers' for people I've lost in recent months. It'll be a couple of weeks before germination is fully evident.That's all I can say for now, for part one of this review. In a few weeks' time I'll update this review with a part two progress update. Then, later in the season, there will be a final part three (if I remember) showing them in bloom. All future updates will appear below here.----------
I was surprised to see that the packaging claims that there are 1000 seeds - it certainly doesn't look anywhere near that many, the seeds are a few mm long. I wasn't going to count them, so I did a Google search as to the weight of a cornflower seed, and it does indeed seem that you would get at least in the very high hundreds with 5g worth.I waited to sow these until about 11 days ago after the temperatures started to rise into the mid-teens or more during daytime, and they are now sprouting in considerable numbers, ahead of the minimum 14 days figure quoted. The important thing to know really with seeds is whether they are going to germinate successfully - once they have done that everything should be fine thereafter (barring slugs and snails of course).
I live in a big city and there are lots of patches of soil and even a small park near me which are not planted. This year I'm planting native bee-friendly wildflowers on these patches.Good to have these seeds from UK. Won't know if they bloom this summer as will take a few months and will update if no success.