Stock
Overview:
Stock flowers, known as Matthiola incana, are known for their enchanting fragrance. They smell similar to cloves, which makes them a popular choice for gardens and floral arrangements. These flowers are easy to grow from seed or transplants and makes a lovely addition to your cool season cottage garden.
Most stock varieties bloom 55% double and 45% single. Typically breeders single out and only grow the double ones for cut flower production as they are more desirable.
Starting seeds:
Starting stock seeds is relatively easy. We start them indoors about 6 week before planting outside. Start by sowing 2-3 seeds per cell. Burry about 1/4” deep. We do not thin seedlings in cells as planting them close is encouraged for tall blooms. We like to start seeds in September-November for winter and spring blooms.
If you have a bird or animal problem you can start them inside and transplant them into your beds. sow them 1/4” deep. Check out our seed starting guide for more tips and tricks.
Spacing:
4-6"
We can plant stock pretty close together as each plant only produces one bloom, and they grow straight up vertically with minimal branching. Plant close together for optimal space.
Sun:
Full sun, 6-8+ hours per day.
Fertilizer:
We typically liquid feed stock every two to three weeks during their growing season. They do not need a lot of fertilizer, but enough to encourage them to keep pushing out blooms.
Succession plant:
We typically do not succession plant stock, as snapdragons are usually blooming right after them. Consider planting an early snapdragon and late snapdragon for a gorgeous focal spike flower all spring season.
Favorite Varieties:
We grow an array of different stock varieties each season. From shorter pot varieties, to taller ones for the cut flower garden. They all smell AMAZING.
Katz:
The Katz series is a classic for any cut flower garden. Strong stems, and the flowers typically come 55% double.
Katz 'pink' stock offers a deeper pink with large ruffly blooms. We added in Hortnova netting to keep these large blooms from flopping over in the springtime.
Katz 'white' offers more double blooms than any other color at 90-95% double. What a score! We grew a ton of these blooms for local florist when we operated our flower farm. Now we just enjoy them in our own home!
Katz series reaches 30-36" in height, more than enough stem length for cut flowers!
Iron:
Iron stock is another great series for cut flowers. We grow the Iron 'apricot' yearly as their color is out of this world!
Iron gets a bit taller with a stem length of 36-48". Be sure to net this variety as it can flop over if blooms get too heavy.
Dwarf varieties:
We grew the Mime series for the first time this past winter, and we were very impressed to say the least!
Mime pink offers a soft pink vibe that is just the perfect pastel. We planted these as plugs in October and they were blooming like this for our Christmas display. I think we need to normalize pink for the holidays because i'm in love! We paired them with alyssum, pansy's, and paper whites for a stunning winter combo. We will definably be repeating this combo for years to come.
