Growing Stock Flowers in my Cottage Garden

The early morning dawn shows off the cool pink of the freshly blooming Stock flowers. The flower-clustered head of the Stock flower is so much prettier flower than their name alludes to. Traditionally, Stock is also referred to as Gilly flowers or worse still, Hoary Stock. Hoary feels almost insulting to this beautiful floral creation. And well, Gilly is just ridiculous. Their scientific name of Matthiola Incana is a mouthful, so I will just continue to refer to them as Stock. Indeed, the Stock flower belies its name as it rounds out the cottage garden with a soft sweetness, perfuming the surrounding air with its delicious, sweet clove scent that brings to mind clouds of pink. This sweet and very old-fashioned flower faithfully stands upright with its heavily scented blossoms that bring joy to the cottage garden.

My gardening experience with Stock amounts to almost nothing as they simply have never come to my attention. A year or two ago a tag caught my eye of a vintage mix of stock flower plants at a local nursery, so I bought some. The results weren’t impressive enough for me to add them. The plants seemed insignificant which could have been a number of things. However, last winter I decided to give them another chance and ordered several colors of Iron Stock seeds, something I am now glad I did. The Iron Stock seeds added tall, creamy shades of yellow, light pink, and white stock to the herbaceous border at Hidden Bluff. Seeing these pretty flowers full grown in our garden is a joy as is getting acquainted with them.

Getting Started…

The Stock flowers did take quite a while to get started. I sowed them outside in early Spring per instructions for our garden zone 8b/9a, but they took a while to germinate. When they did finally sprout, they seemed to stay tiny forever. I think they were just waiting for the sun to be warmer. Once the weather heated up, they begin to take off. When the triple digit weather arrived, I was concerned how they would hold up, but they are doing amazingly well. That being said, I am quite positive that like most temperate climate flowers they wouldn’t prefer a steady diet of 100-degree weather.

Eventually, I will harvest seeds although it will be interesting to see if they self-seed easily. Already I have spotted a seed pod. Later this summer our greenhouse will go up, and I will try my hand at starts over the winter using the harvested seeds.

Formally identified in the 16th century by an Italian doctor, the Stock flower has long been a part of the cottage garden. Its popularity continued through medieval and Victorian Europe and especially in Germany. They aren’t garden superstars like the rose or peony, and they certainly don’t strive to outshine the others, but as solid garden companions they blend in pastel harmony with the rest of the garden with a nice long blooming season of about 2 months.

Growing Stock Flowers in my Cottage Garden

The Stock appreciates regular watering, but currently is an easy flower to care for. Supposedly it is drought tolerant and even a bit shade tolerant although ours are in full sun. It likes neutral to alkaline soil that is well-draining. One of the reasons I added this to the garden was for its reputation as a great cut flower and looking at their sturdy stems and hardy flowers it is easy to see why. One is even still growing after its main stem was mostly severed. It is a great filler flower for a bouquet. Stock flowers are of modest height with flowerheads made up of many small flowers. They come in many varieties and colors for those who prefer other colors than pastels.

General gardening sources seemed to be a bit mixed on the characteristics of stock leaving me to wonder. Some call for directing sowing in early Spring and some in late summer for flowering in the Spring. Maybe it’s both? And is it annual, tender perennial, biennial? Sources also vary on this. I guess I will wait to see what happens as this flower friendship grows!

Have a beautiful day!