Matthiola incana Classic Apricot quarantaine seeds - Stock

The Matthiola incana 'Classic Apricot' is a variety of highly fragrant, soft, rosy-orange stock selected for cut flowers. When grown in pots, each plant forms a single sturdy, large flower spike, while in open ground it tends to branch more and produces more spreading blooms. Sowing yields approximately 50% double-flowered plants. This stock is also suitable for decorating borders and flowering containers. It is easy to grow in full sun, in rich, well-drained soil.

Stock, or Matthiola incana (formerly Cheiranthus incanus), is a short-lived herbaceous plant often grown as an annual or biennial depending on the climate. It belongs to the Brassicaceae family, like mustard. Native to the Mediterranean basin and the Canary Islands, this species grows naturally in rocky coastal environments. It is also known as Ten-week stock, Common stock, or Florist's stock.

The cultivar 'Classic Apricot' forms a clump reaching 60 to 80 cm in height when in flower. Its foliage is grey-green and narrowly lanceolate. grouped in long, dense spikes 2 to 3 cm in diameter, the flowers appear from late April to September, depending on the sowing date. Their spicy, sweet fragrance attracts many pollinators such as bees. This stock most often produces a single thick, spectacular flowering stem. The 'Classic Apricot' can be grown as an annual or biennial: sown in spring, it flowers in summer; sown in late summer or autumn, it overwinters as a rosette and flowers the following spring. In all cases, the plant dies after flowering.

The 'Classic Apricot' Stock has incredible charm in mixed borders, spring beds, or containers. Its sweet, spicy fragrance invites planting near a path, close to an entrance or on a patio. In beds, its apricot tones harmonise with silver foliage such as that of Artemisia 'Powis Castle' or Stachys byzantina 'Big Ears', but also with the pastel blooms of candytuft or dwarf snapdragon 'Twinny Appleblossom', for example. For a surprising effect, pair it with blue delphiniums and forget-me-nots.

In  cut flower arranegements, this stock combines perfectly with late tulips, double-flowered columbines, or flowering branches of summer spirea.