Matthiola Incana Stock Miracle Crimson, Gold and Lavender Summer Flower Plant
STOCK
From April onwards, florists’ bouquets often include stocks. They enchant us with the soft colors of the double flowers, but, above all, with their intensely sweet scent. It has an almost stupefying effect and some people think it is excessively strong. The stems of the varieties grown for cutting are often about 28 in long. Containers full of stocks are also marketed in spring, and are meant for planting out in flower-beds in the garden.
The commercial cultivation of stocks is fairly complicated. Still, you can have a go yourself by sowing them indoors at 68 °F in March-April. Allow the temperature to fall drastically after that, and note which seedlings develop a dark green color – these are the single-flowered plants – and which remain light green – the double-flowered varieties. Then you can select them to suit your own taste. Grow the plants on at about 50-59 °F, and plant them out-of-doors after mid-May. Find a sunny position for them in well-drained soil. If seeds are sown directly in the garden in April-May, the plants will come into flower in July.
The varieties in the Miracle Series are specifically cultivated for cutting. They do not branch out, but grow neatly upright to about in. Matthiola incana ‘Miracle Ball Pink’ has soft pink flowers, those of Matthiola incana ‘Miracle Crimson’ are crimson, those of Matthiola incana ‘Miracle Gold’ are buttery yellow, and those of Matthiola incana ‘Miracle Lavender’ are lavender blue.
