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Matthiola incana |
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| Common name |
common stock |
| Family |
brassicaceae |
| Life cycle |
annual |
| Flowers |
various colors (summer) |
| Size |
12" |
| Light |
sun |
| Cultural notes |
ordinary garden soil |
From seed  |
germinate at room temperature. seeds are flat, tan discs.
detailed seed-starting info below
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Noted for its spicy scent. Ours (seed-grown) are pink.
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| Recently, I tried to grow a dwarf variety named 'Tudor Tapestry' from seed I traded. Curiously, the plants were hardly dwarf, and didn't bloom - but their overall habit was a lot more interesting and attractive than that of other stocks we've grown: neatly mounded blue-green foliage. The seed I traded for certainly didn't come true - but I'm still hopeful they may overwinter to finish their lifecycle next year. So far (writing late January) it looks like they're still alive (the photo at right was taken late December).
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This plant used to grow in our garden, but it slipped away... About my plant portraits
PlantLinks to other web pages about Matthiola incana
Visitors to this page have left the following comments| ashley | Feb 08, 2005 | It would be a big help if you could put the watering needs, on this page as well. But other than that this is a great website I will definetly visit again! |
| Sharon | Apr 06, 2005 | I was interested in finding out if they continued to get flowers in the summer. I wondered if they were just cool weather plants. Your site did not provide this important information.
The photos on this page were taken in July and August - well into warm weather. |
| Laurie | Jun 05, 2005 | An absolutely beautiful plant. I discovered them at a Wal-Mart Garden center! I had never seen them before. It is good to know I can grow them from seed next year. The scent is wonderful. How do you get them to be bushier? Mine are looking a little leggy. There are some spent flowers and I have some new buds. Should I be removing the flowers as they die?
They do grow upright, but cutting spent flowerstalks will probably lead to a bushier plant. I'll be experimenting with that myself this year. |
| Julie | Jun 22, 2005 | This is the second year I bought the stock flower-they bloom then I have nothing but leaves and stems from dead heading. Where are the seeds-are they in the little hotdog shaped things protruding from the plants??
Absolutely, it's all in the hotdogs :-) |
| David | Oct 24, 2005 | i'm from malaysia. i use to have this in my garden but never bloom. they look healthy almost as healthy as yours but they just never form spike. so, i guess they must have cool weather in order for them to form flower spike, right? too bad can't grow them here. |
| Mary Beth | Mar 19, 2006 | Hi Rob - I'm growing 'Lucinda Dark Rose' seeds from Select Seeds. Have you tried this kind? I am heartened to see that they grow into the summer in zone 6. Any perennials that you recommend for combinations with stock?
I've not tried any named varieties - yet. The plain ones certainly seem to be good long-term performers. I'm hardly a design guru, and although I don't have a ready-made combination to suggest, I tend to think of cottage garden perennials as good companions. |
| Heather | Jun 21, 2006 | Great pics & great info. This is my first year growing them and so happy to find the info on deadheading and seed collecting. Any ideas if the seeds will sprout if scattered on open garden soil or winter sowed? Thanks so much!
I've not tried either method. It's not a reseeder in our garden, though, so I'd start some indoors just to be sure. |
| Aleli | Jun 30, 2006 | It was a pleasure finding your site. Did you know that in Latin America the name of this flower is Alheli!! I was a little disappointed that here it has such a plain name. As you can see my name came from this flower (my parents took out the 'h' since its silent in Spanish).
I must admit the Latin American name is much prettier - but it looks and smells pretty either way :-) |
| Kumari Jansz | May 19, 2008 | I bought some stock from a garden store had only found out today what they are really called. My flowers are doubles in a deep pink. I love your photos.
I've noticed they absolutely love the sunshine and snails love them too. I've sorted out the snails now.
May I ask. How long do they last? Are they Biennials? I'm from London so the winters are quite mild. I've been dead-heading but would love to have some more next year. What do you suggest I do? I dont see them often in garden centres here.
They're quite hardy, but I'm afraid they are true annuals - hope for self-seeding, or help nature along a bit by saving and sowing. |
| Shelly | May 21, 2008 | I had never seen these flowers until I picked some up on sale at WalMart. The 6 pack I bought has the most wonderful color assortment. It included a bright white, a soft pink, a hot pink, dark purple, a really nice lavender, and one plant that grows a offwhite flower with pink edges on the top of the plant, but the bottom of the pink has a soft pink. So I'm glad I found out where the seeds are so I can plant these again next year. They are just so beautiful! |
| Denise | Sep 28, 2008 | I just purchased some stock based on the label at Lowe's saying they bloomed in spring AND fall; however, as I've read your site and a few others, it seems they are summer bloomers. Have I been duped?
I imagine it depends on climate and culture. My plants, started in early spring, bloom summer into fall. But if they are forced to bloom earlier (and bought when blooming, or close to bloom), it's possible they might rebloom after resting for a bit. If you live in a warm climate where they survive winter, they may last until hot weather arrives next summer. I'm just hypothesizing, mind you... |
| Mark | Feb 11, 2009 | Hi all
Here in Malta, The small dot on the map just south of Italy and Sicily. They are very common here. we sow them in autumn and are only 6 inches high when they flower for the first time in January, they are planted in the ground and the first flower spike is cut off, after side shoots appear this will cause them to form a bush and produce many more flowers round April which are not cut off so they will produce the seed pod. Very attractive to butterflies. Keep seeds in a dry paper bags; seeds are alive and need air
They may flower later in cooler areas, bulbs from northern Europe usually flower a month or two earlier here
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| Rebecca | Oct 12, 2009 | Hi
Here in England I think your Tudor Tapestry is called Tudor Dwarf. We have it flowering from March onwards, but I've never tried it from seed I will have to give it a go.
Nice to find your site, Thanks! |
| marwa eldemerdash | Jan 13, 2010 | i need to know if there is difference in genus Matthiola incana and Matthiola longipetela
Take a look at my page for M. longipetala and judge for yourself. |
| Susan | Jun 07, 2010 | I have had these flowers outside in pots about a month now and the flowers are falling off and leaving green stalks which I assume contain the seeds. Can you cut these back to keep them blooming? I have never had these before. Thanks for your help.
It's certainly worth a try. In my garden, stock blooms later in the season, so there isn't much use for deadheading. |
| Atena | Mar 08, 2011 | Hi, Rob! I read somewhere how I can decide from the growing seedling of a Matthiola Incana plant if I want the plant to be male ( lots of flowers, small rose look) or female ( four petals that turn into seeds). It was some infos about the colour of the first growing leaves and how to choose them. The particularity was on the dark or the light leaves.
Do you know anything about? Thanks. Atena
Hi Atena - I hadn't heard about that before. When I grow them again (I'll have to get some new seed), I'll try to track down some more information on this. |
| Marianne | Apr 28, 2011 | Will matthiola incana work as a border behind marigolds. |
| Debbe | May 26, 2011 | Like a lot of you I got mine at Wal-Mart and I got them because they smelled so good. From reading your posts we are not sure if deadheading is what we should do if we want more blooms. I have two pots.. I will deadhead the one and leave the other. They were so full and beautiful this spring I hate for them to go away. I'll check back in a couple of weeks and let you know how they are doing. Thanks for the help.I will keep this page in mind for my next questions. |
| Rose | Oct 28, 2011 | Thank you so much for the help! Great website |
| Lana | Sep 10, 2012 | Mine did not produce flowers, what would be the reason
One of its requirements (light, nutrition, soil condition, moisture, maturation time) was not met – but it's hard to say which one. |
| Marion | Apr 14, 2014 | I bought mine at a garden center in 2012, they did get seed heads, which I saved, and brought the plant inside (Ottawa, Canada) when it got cool in September. It went outside in 2013, but didn't go to seed. Flowers throughout the fall, and spring (2014) continued to appear! Lots of nice scents to enjoy. I will put them outside again this May, or June. I have not deadheaded anything that didn't die off. Still even now, in April 2014 new flowers. What a great deal. I was indeed cool inside the house all winter...so whatever happens is all just gravy after so many years. Cheers to all around the planet! |
- Seed from '00 trade. Baggy 70F (87%G)
- Same seed as above. Baggy 70F (only a few G, 4-6d)
- Seed from '04 garden. Baggy 70F (67%G, 4d)
- Seed from '05 garden. Baggy 70F (76%G, 4d)
- Seed from '06 garden. Baggy 70F (48%G, 4-5d)
Seed for 'Tudor Tapestry' from '06 trade. Baggy 70F (33%G, 4-10d)
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