Wallflower Fair Lady

The pastel mix, and the most versatile wallflower in the range. Cream, lemon, gold, dusky pink, salmon, apricot and soft lilac, with bicolours where two shades run across a single flower, on uniform compact plants at 30 to 40cm.

Where 'Cloth of Gold' and 'Fire King' are single strong colours that dictate a scheme, this blends. It sits under pastel tulips and beside soft spring perennials without taking anything over, which is why it suits a considered planting better than the bold solid varieties. It carries the full clove wallflower scent regardless of colour, which is not always true of pastel selections. It is also the same plant that used to be sold as 'Persian Carpet'; the selection has not changed, only the name.

It is a biennial. Sow it in summer, grow the rosette through winter, and flower it the following March to May. Nothing happens in the first year.

All parts are poisonous if eaten. Wear gloves to handle it.