Chinese Violet Cress

£2.50

3 in stock

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Tasty and beautiful, with its vibrant green leaves and a riot of intensely violet flowers which seem to go on for months. It can be sown in the spring, but from an autumn sowing undercover, will also give you a burst of colour in late winter; hence its other name, the February Orchid.

Approx. 150 seeds per pack.

Additional information: Every part of this lovely salad crop is edible, so as well as using the tasty leaves, you can also add the beautiful flowers in too – though the intense violet of the small, delicate flowers is so striking, it’s almost a shame to harvest them! Like most other salad crops, you can sow them successionally from mid-spring, but I like to sow them in the autumn in my greenhouse, where they’ll over-winter quite happily. Come late Feb, when everything else is looking bare, you’ll then get your first flowers, and they’ll keep on flowering right through till June. The plants themselves are bushy, growing to about 2ft in height, and prefer a well drained, sunny position. Great for pollinators, they also work beautifully in hanging baskets.

Botanical name: Orychophragmus violaceus

Grown by: Carolyn Moody

Can be sown, either in the spring for a summer crop, or undercover in the autumn, where it will overwinter before flowering in late Feb. Either sow thinly into modules, covered with just a sprinkling of fine soil, before transplanting out, or direct sow later once the the weather’s warmed up. Prefers full sun.

Prefers fertile, well drained soil in full sun – it won’t tolerate shade. Either sprinkle-sow thinly in modules or in situ in spring, when all danger of frost has passed. Earlier sowings can be made indoors. Outdoor sowings should be made into a bed of fine, damp soil, with just a sprinkling of soil over the top. Transplant indoor sowings when big enough to handle after first hardening off. You can also make an early autumn sowing indoors, where it will overwinter before flowering in late February. They’ll grow to about 2ft high, and can get quite tangly, so start to pick the leaves for salads once they’re sufficiently established.