Wallflower Scarlet Bedder

The 'Scarlet Bedder' Wallflower, also known as Cheiranthus cheiri or ravenelle wallflower, like all varieties in the 'Bedder' series, forms semi-dwarf plants that bear flowers with very vibrant colours, perfect for brightening up the pastel shades of spring. This one is adorned with large fragrant flowers of a scarlet red, tinged with orange, gathered in dense spikes. The flowering lasts several weeks, sometimes starting in February in mild climates. With its lively colour and compact habit, it will enliven sunny borders, rockeries, and even pots on the balcony or terrace. This biennial plant is actually a short-lived perennial and not very hardy, but very easy to grow in the sun, in well-drained soil, even poor and chalky ones.

The Erysimum cheiri, also called Cheiranthus cheiri, has gained over the centuries and in different regions various evocative vernacular names: it is sometimes called yellow wallflower, ravenelle, woad, or yellow viola, because it displays yellow flowers with a powerful clove fragrance. It is a plant of the crucifer family, native to southern Europe, well adapted to dry and chalky soils. This short-lived perennial and not very hardy plant is most often grown as a biennial or annual.

The 'Scarlet Bedder' variety is part of a horticultural series selected for its compact and branching habit, and its very long spring flowering in multiple colours. It quickly forms upright, bushy, and compact clumps, with woody bases, covered with lanceolate leaves, sword-shaped, brown-purple to bronze, with a satin-like appearance. The flowering begins in March and continues until the start of summer. In mild climates, and provided it is pruned at the end of the season, this plant will show its perennial nature (short-lived) and even flower in winter. The flowers with 4 petals, 5 to 6 cm (2 - 2.4 in) wide, are fragrant in warm weather, gathered in racemes at the top of leafy stems 35cm (13.8 in) tall. They are highly visited by pollinating insects that find in their corollas one of the first nectars of spring.

Appreciated in gardens for its ease of cultivation and its tendency to self-seed in the most unlikely places, ignored by all other plants, the wallflower and its cultivars are excellent rockery plants that thrive even in somewhat poor soils and above walls. These plants also work wonders in border plantings, alongside Damask Nigellas, Californian Poppies, perennial flax, or in mixed beds with taller plants like toadflaxes, mulleins, or Gauras, which are just as undemanding as it is. It can also be planted in pots on the terrace, balcony, near an entrance, to fully enjoy its generous flowering.

Note: Please note, our young plants in mini-plugs are professional products reserved for experienced gardeners: upon receipt, transplant them as soon as possible, in pots, containers, or directly in beds.