Cornflower
Cornflower in many colours
The cornflower is an annual, easy-care flower that likes to self-seed from year to year. In addition to the traditional blue-coloured cornflower, there are newer varieties in red, pink, purple and white. All are lovely to mix both in the garden and in bouquets.
Cornflowers normally grow to about 80-90 cm tall. There are also lower varieties of about 40 cm, which are super nice in outdoor pots. We like to use these lower varieties of cornflower as a border plant in the border.
The Latin name Centaurea comes from a centaur in Greek myth who was good with herbs. The horse-man Chiron put cornflower flowers on a wound so that it would heal after a monster’s poison darts. And according to folk medicine, the flower would counteract plague, fever and dizziness. Today, cornflower is used as a plant colour and in skin products such as toner.
For some time, agricultural herbicides have discouraged cornflowers from the field margins, but fortunately they are now on the rise again, thanks to efforts to bring back important pollinators to the agricultural landscape.
Good attractant for butterflies and bees
The small plants can withstand a little frost, so you can be brave and sow them in early spring, already in March-April. We usually also sow a batch in May for later flowering.
Clear the area where they will grow of weeds, level the soil a little and water. Then scatter the seeds about 2 cm apart. Add a little soil or rake the seeds down to a depth of about 0.5 cm. Sow together with other summer flowers. Cornflowers thrive best in full sun and in soil that is not too nutritious.
Keep moist during germination. We usually throw out seeds rather improvised. We then thin out the plants that end up too dense and replant them in the kitchen garden. Not only because it’s beautiful to see happy flowers among the kitchen plants, but also to attract more insects. Cornflowers are an excellent attractant. Its sweet nectar attracts pollinators. Vegetables such as cucumbers and tomatoes benefit from the abundant insect life for their fruiting.
Cornflower is a very easy to care for and undemanding plant. But feel free to add some grass clippings and strengthen the plants with nettle water at some point during the season. And make sure to cut off flowers that have wilted. Then there will be more flowers.
Sow cornflowers in autumn
In the spring, like most people, we’re very busy in the garden. So it’s nice to have already arranged a bed or two of flowers in the autumn that are good for autumn sowing – such as cornflowers, marigolds, poppies, daisies, bluebells, atlas flowers and sleeping beauty. The flowers get a really early start and we have time for other cultivation work.
Cornflower – an edible flower!
Like many summer flowers, cornflowers produce more flowers the more you harvest. What a great excuse to have bouquets everywhere! What’s more, cornflower is edible – the flowers don’t taste like much, but they provide a striking colour contrast as decoration on stuffed tomatoes. Or sprinkle the petals in salads, in rice, in drinks and on cakes. Perhaps together with cucumber herb, marigold and pansy.
Cornflower is also lovely as an everlasting. Cut off the flowers at the bottom of the stem and hang the bouquets upside down in a dark place until they have dried. That’s when the colour stays best.
Author: Johanna Damm
Fact-checked by Erik Hoekstra
Last updated 2022-10-14