Clarkia amoena Thoroughly Modern Millie - Farewell-to-spring

This old-fashioned Clarkia or Godetia is coming up to date with this Thoroughly Modern Millie blend of silky, funnel-shaped flowers in rich and fresh shades of pink, salmon, and red. It is a charming and floriferous annual plant, ideal for adding colour to summer flower beds. Let yourself be seduced by this lovely, azalea-like flower, which is very easy to grow in well-drained, fertile, moist to dry soil in the garden, also great for cut flowers.

Godetia amoena is now called Clarkia amoena or Clarkia grandiflora. It is an annual plant of the onagraceae family, native to California, which has given rise to numerous cultivars, including the plants in the Thoroughly Modern Millie blend, which are remarkable. A simple sowing will give vigorous and bushy plants, with many very fine branches, reaching a height of 35 cm (14in) in one season. Each plant develops into a small pyramid, topped in summer by as many spikes of silky flowers, with wide corollas in bright and varied colours, ranging from white to red, including all shades of pink. They have a flared shape and are gathered in terminal inflorescences. The flowering period extends from June to September, depending on the sowing date, which can be staggered to enjoy a long flowering season. The fruit is a capsule that splits open at maturity to release numerous seeds.

Clarkias enchant flower beds and borders, where they create remarkable spots of colour. The 'Thoroughly Modern Millie' blend brings with it the charm of cottage gardens. Sow it in slightly wild flower beds, alongside ornamental grasses like Stipa tenuifolia or Mulhenbergia capillaris, catmints, pink Damask Nigellas, California poppies and annual cornflowers. By combining them with Oriental poppies and asters, you can create ever-changing flower beds all summer. Clarkias make excellent cut flowers and are widely used in floristry. They can be sown in vegetable gardens, along with gladioli, to supply cut flowers for bouquets.