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Heirloom Annuals

© Susan Ward

I love the look and fragrance of an old-fashioned garden, the kind that my grandmother still grows. Gardens composed of heritage plants not only encourage biodiversity, but are a safeguard against the extinction of original plant species.

What is a Heirloom Plant?

Generally, a heritage or heirloom plant is one that's been in cultivation for over fifty years. Many have been cultivated for hundreds of years! They're plants that gardeners treasured so much they conscientiously saved the seed and passed it on for generations. By definition, heirloom plants are open pollinated; they have parents of the same variety and come true from seed if saved properly. So growing heirloom plants can save you money as well as provide superior qualities such as flavour and fragrance that are sometimes missing in hybrid plants.

Phacelia

Heirloom annuals are particularly suited to gardeners looking for something different or those trying to create a particular look, such as a cottage garden. For instance, if you're a gardener who loves Genetian blue, you'll love Phacelia campanularia, a low-growing, hardy annual with intensely blue, one inch wide upturned bells with yellow stamens. Also known as California Bluebell, Phacelia grows 8 to 9 inches tall and will bloom for ten to fourteen weeks under ideal conditions (full sun, hot days, and cool nights). In zones 3-8, seed outdoors in early spring in situ as it doesn't like transplanting; flowering occurs two months after sowing. As the greyish foliage and reddish stems are also quite attractive, Phacelia makes an excellent low border or addition to a rock garden, although it's most effective planted in masses. It does best in poor, sandy soil.

Nigella

Another low-growing annual that deserves to be more widely grown is Nigella damascena, a.k.a. Love-in-a-mist. The name describes the way the open-faced flowers peep through the finely cut, ferny foliage. The blue cornflower-like flowers bloom six to eight weeks in summer, but you can easily extend this season by successive sowing. Growing one to one and a half feet tall, Nigella adds a delightful texture and colour to any sunny or lightly shaded border, and makes fine cut flowers. Seed should be sown in early spring in situ; Nigella also dislikes transplanting.

Clarkia

If you love the look of Hollyhocks, you might want to add the miniature version to your garden, especially if you want flowers for cutting. Like Hollyhocks, Clarkia elegans has double, frilly flowers in pink, mauve or red borne on upright spikes. Their delicate one-inch-wide blooms are borne all along their two to three foot stem in summer. Although they need a sunny site, they thrive in cool summers, and bloom best in light soil that's low in nitrogen. Don't bother trying to start Clarkia inside; these, too, need to be sown outside in spring as early as the ground can be raked and dislike transplanting. Curiously, while Clarkia is a favorite of cottage gardeners, this wildflower wasn't discovered until the nineteenth century in the western U.S.; it's named for the famous explorer!