Linaria maroccana Fairy Bouquet mix -seeds

Linaria maroccana 'Fairy Bouquet' mix brings together several varieties of Moroccan Toadflax, in a wide range of colours including yellow, pink, white, different shades of mauve, purple, and violet... This mix of annuals can be sown directly in place in the spring, in sunny and well-drained soil, for a long summer flowering that begins 6 weeks later. The flowers resemble snapdragons, but smaller, thinner, and with long spurs, making them even more graceful. Moroccan Toadflax, which excels in borders and rockeries, can also be used to create beautiful potted plants and charming bouquets.

Linaria maroccana is an annual herbaceous plant of the scrophulariaceae family, or the plantaginaceae family according to another classification. It is native to Morocco but has become naturalised in the southeastern United States, especially in California. This species thrives in sunlight, heat, and well-drained rocky or sandy soils.

The 'Fairy Bouquet' selection offers a very wide range of colours. Each plant forms a clump of 50-55 cm in height and 20-25 cm in width within a few weeks, with branched stems bearing very thin, green leaves, measuring 3-4 cm in length. In cool climates, flowering occurs from June to September, sometimes earlier if sown under heated shelter as early as March. In mild climates, seedlings grow in autumn and flower as early as April, with flowering being stopped by summer drought. Just like Love-in-a-Mist, this toadflax modifies its vegetative cycle according to the climate. The small two-lipped flowers are tightly packed on long terminal spikes. They are loved by pollinating insects. Annual toadflaxes readily self-seed in the garden, in light soil, but not always faithfully compared to the mother plant.

Much less known and used in our gardens than Love-in-a-Mist, cosmos, or even their cousins snapdragons, Moroccan Toadflaxes are just as easy to grow and their graceful flowering in various colors is enchanting. They are plants accessible to all gardeners, to be sown in borders, flower beds, or rockeries. Toadflaxes, whether perennial or annual, blend perfectly together. They are plants made for wild gardens or cottage gardens, but also very useful for quickly creating flowering pots. Their airy spikes are well highlighted when emerging among bushy perennials (bushy salvias, gauras, summer asters), groundcovers (cerastiums, aubrietas), or low-growing subshrubs with sober colours ('Powis Castle' wormwood, lavenders...).