Linaria maroccana Licilia Azure

Linaria maroccana 'Licilia Azure' is a delightful variety of Moroccan Toadflax, one of the prettiest annual plants for the garden, with its exceptionally light and vibrant flowering. It grows very quickly and can bloom 6 weeks after sowing. Its flowers, clustered on long slender stems, resemble snapdragons but are smaller, thinner, and have long spurs, giving them a delicate appearance. This flowering, ranging from light blue to indigo, lasts throughout the summer in sunny and well-drained soil. Moroccan Toadflax is also great for creating lovely pot displays and poetic bouquets.

Linaria maroccana is an annual herbaceous plant in the family Scrophulariaceae, or Plantaginaceae according to another classification. It is native to Morocco but has naturalized in the southeastern United States, particularly in California. This species thrives in sunny, hot climates and well-drained rocky or sandy soils. 

The 'Licilia Azure' cultivar, is a particularly floriferous and easy-to-grow horticultural hybrid. The plant quickly forms a clump 50 to 60cm (20 to 24in) tall and 20cm (8in) wide, composed of branched stems with very thin, 3-4cm (1-2in) long green leaves. In cooler climates, flowering occurs from June to September, sometimes earlier if sown under heated cover in March. In mild climates, seedlings grow in autumn and bloom in April, with flowering being halted by summer drought. Like Damask Nigella, this toadflax adjusts its growth cycle according to the climate. The small two-lipped flowers are tightly packed on long terminal spikes tinged with purple. They are highly attractive to pollinating insects. Annual toadflaxes readily self-seed in light soils but not always true to the parent plant.

Much less known and used in our gardens than nigellas, cosmos, or even their cousins the snapdragons, Moroccan toadflaxes are equally easy to cultivate and their airy, varied-coloured blooms are enchanting. They are accessible plants for all gardeners, easy to incorporate into borders, flower beds, or rockeries. 'Licilia Azure', with its beautiful blue flowering, pairs well with other varieties from the Licilia series such as 'Peach' or 'Violet', or those from the Northern Light series, with flowers displaying a wide range of gentle colours. These plants are perfect for wild gardens or cottage gardens, but also very useful for quickly filling flower pots. For example, combine them with Damask Nigellas, Gilia capitata, cosmos, or annual poppies. Their airy spikes are beautifully showcased when emerging among bushy perennials (fennel, Senecio vira-vira, asters), groundcovers (Cerastium tomentosum, wall bellflowers, Aubrietias), or understorey shrubs with subtle colours (mugworts, Euphorbias, lavenders, thymes)...