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This cascading western native wildflower attracts native pollinators, beneficial insects, and birds to your garden and requires no irrigation once established. Birds especially love the seeds, which they work out of the progressively maturing seed capsules all summer long. Delicate, baby blue flowers are born on even more delicate, ferny, foliage. Charming perennial, easy to grow from seed, and self-sows moderately.
Blue flax, or prairie flax, is found south to California, north to Alaska, and east to Minnesota. It is especially useful on hillsides for erosion control, and because it is semi-evergreen it is also useful in fire suppressant habitat plantings.
How to grow it:
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Germ Temp
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Indoor Start
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Germ Days
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Frost Tolerant
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Sun
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Seed Depth
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Plant/Row Spacing
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60-70
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4-6 w.
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20-25 d.
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Yes
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Full
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Surface
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12”/18”
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A 5 week period of cold stratification with enhance germination rates. Wrap seeds in moist paper towel and allow to stratify in cold (40-50 F) basement or refrigerator. Alternatively, scatter on the soil surface in fall and seeds will naturally stratify in winter cold. Learn more about how easy cold stratification is in our blog post about it!
After stratification, sow on the surface of the soil and press in lightly or barely cover as light aids germination. Start indoors a few weeks before the last frost, or sow directly outside around last frost. Only transplants well when small. Once it is established after year one it will not need irrigation.
Be patient with this perennial, as it does not bloom until the second year.
Seed specs: Packet size: 50 min.
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