Phacelia Blue is a stunning, striking and very attractive annual very well suited for the growing in the annual border, the wild garden, in the bees and butterflies garden, in large flowerpots and in flowerboxes. It's often used as green manure in the vegetable garden. Easy to grow and sow and a very greedy self-seeder. The bell-shaped bright blue flowers have a very light almost white hart and grow on little, low, thin fragile stems and are surrounded with light green slightly hairy leaves. Semi hardy annual. Height: 20 cm.
Indoor sowing: March - April
Outdoor sowing: April - July
Germination: 14 - 21 days
Germination temp. : 18 - 22°C
Sowing depth: 1 - 1½ cm
Plant distance: 20 - 35 cm
Plant position: sunny
Flowering period: July - September
Sow indoors from March on in trays with some moist potting soil. Sow thinly and cover the seeds with some soil. This because Phacelia is a dark germinator. Keep the temperature as even as possible during the germination. Don't let the temperature drop during the night. Keep moist and cover the trays with a lid to preserve the moisture. Remove the lid when the seedlings emerge. Put the seedlings outdoors on a very sunny, sheltered plot with some free draining soil in the middle of May, when there's no longer any danger of nightfrosts. Keep moist and weedfree.
Sow outdoors from April on a warm sunny, sheltered plot with some free draining soil. Sow thinly and cover the seed with a layer of soil. Keep moist and weedfree. Thin the seedlings to about 20 - 35 cm apart, when the seedlings are large enough to handle. This plant is a very greedy self-seeder and very well suited for a wild garden, beegarden and butterfly garden.
