Cottage Flower of the Week #1

I like unique but easy to grow flowers.  Ones you cannot seem to find in your ordinary garden center or nursery.  I tend to lean towards the informal look of cottage gardens and I hunt down old fashioned cottage flowers to test in my humble little patch.

Agrostemma githago is one such cottage garden flower. 

Photos courtesy of Annie’s Annuals (love her stuff)

I enjoy the way it dances in the slightest breeze.  The simplicity of the fluted blossoms and delicate stripes radiating from their throats immediately charms you.

The masses of blooms floating above the grassy yet sturdy foliage provides a soft wave of color in the landscape throughout spring and early summer in warmer climates but here in the mountains it blooms more in early to mid summer.

This graceful bloomer goes by various names: Corn Cockle, Rose of Heaven and even Noxious Weed!  Yes, as is true of many easy growing flowers in some areas they can self seed to the point of being a pest.  I do not have such trouble with it as our cold winters keep it tamed.  I save the seed from one season to the next and restart the seeds each spring.

Actually some sites say NOT to start this plant in pots as it does not transplant well but the very first one I tried was from Annie’s Annuals, it came in a 4 inch pot and did just fine.  I was very careful not to disturb the roots.

I hunted down seeds for it since I wanted plenty and found them at Renee’s Garden.
Photo courtesy of Renee’s Garden

The latest version is pure white and is called “Ocean Pearls”.   They are fabulous for cutting to bring inside, they make graceful bouquets.

If you don’t live in an area that this is troublesome in, I encourage you to give it a whirl.  It does like good soil but does not take a lot of work to look lovely.


(I am not affiliated with either Renee’s Garden or Annie’s Annuals, this is just my humble opinions)


Enjoy a new flower today!