Cornflower Mix Seeds - Centaurea moschata

The Centaurea moschata 'Mix', also known as Sweet Sultan, is a popular annual plant in gardens for its fragrant pompom-shaped flowers in various colours. Light, airy flowers, superb in fresh or dried bouquets. Like many annual plants, it is ideal for filling spaces between other plants in a border or bed. Sow directly in place in spring or late summer. Easy to grow in the sun, in ordinary, well-drained soil, from moist to dry.

Originating from western Asia, specifically the Caucasus, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey, Centaurea moschata (synonym Amberboa moschata) is not the most well-known of the centaureas. This annual or biennial plant is also called Musk Centaurea due to the aromatic compounds found in its flowers and seeds. It belongs to the aster family, and its flowers are arranged in heads.

Centaurea moschata 'Mix' is a selection that brings together several colours: white, yellow, pink tones, mauve, and violet. Each plant, reaching 50 to 60 cm in height when flowering, grows into an upright tuft, made of thin leafy stems emerging from a cluster of basal leaves. The latter are quite large, cut, lyre-shaped, 10 to 25 cm long, with serrated edges and a grey-green colour. The stem leaves are smaller and cut into very toothed linear segments. Flowering occurs from July to September. The flower heads appear at the tips of the stems, resembling 6 to 8 cm wide pompoms. They arise from decorative scaly buds and are composed of a multitude of fertile and sterile florets with pale colours at the centre, differently coloured on the periphery. This subtly fragrant, nectar-rich, and honey-producing flowering attracts many pollinating insects. Musk Centaurea is hardy down to -12°C. Late summer sowing is possible where winters are not too harsh. The plants will then offer an earlier flowering in spring.

Musk Centaurea has been cultivated for over 350 years, but it is not seen much in gardens anymore. Of medium stature, this plant is perfect in perennial borders and can be randomly sown among other plants. It is welcome in a flowery meadow to accompany all other "countryside" plants. In this usage, cornflowers, grasses, sainfoin, ornamental garlic, borage, motherwort, corn marigolds, annual poppies, cosmos, love-in-a-mist nigella can be mixed. It is also a very good cut flower, for fresh or dried bouquets, as it retains its beautiful colours once dried.