Mignonette seed Reseda odorata

LATIN NAME: Reseda odorata

COMMON NAME: Mignonette

The mignonette is the sweet, green spike of the old cottage garden, and the small, greenish flowers hold the fine, evening scent. The upright, bushy, annual or biennial plant carries the lobed, green leaves and the long, dense racemes of the small, greenish-yellow or white flowers with the orange stamens through the summer, one of the fine, fragrant sights of the old garden. The flowers have a long record as the sweet scent of the old posies, and the plant is a fine, historic presence of the cottage border. It is a plant of the open, sunny, well-drained ground.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The mignonette is a historic subject of the plant science, and the green spikes keep showing up in the work on the scented old garden flowers. The chemistry of the fine, evening scent of the small flowers has been studied at length, and it keeps appearing in the studies of the fragrant annuals, the old cottage-garden flowers and the members of the mignonette family. The lobed leaves and the upright, bushy habit have also made it a fine study plant, and the mignonette is a regular subject of the work on the sweet green spikes of the cool world.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

The mignonette is a fine, historic plant of the cottage border and the old garden. The long, dense racemes of the small, greenish-yellow or white flowers with the orange stamens open through the summer, holding the fine, evening scent that has filled the old posies and the windowsill pots for the long centuries, drawing the bees and the moths. The plant is one of the fine choices for the cottage border, the scented garden and the cut posy bed, and it has been written about in the horticultural and the botanical papers for the evening scent and the long record of use. It is a fine, historic plant of the open, sunny, well-drained garden.

Sow in the small successions through the spring for the long season of the evening scent.

To grow the mignonette from seed, sow the small, round seeds a centimetre down in a pot of moist, free-draining soil, keep the pot in a bright, open spot and water gently, then set the young plants out in the open ground. The seedlings are up within a couple of weeks and grow on steadily. With the sun and the well-drained ground, the sweet spikes will fill the summer evenings.

Used traditionally as 'cottage garden' plant, grown for its fragrance in the garden and picked to use for pot-pourri in the home. A hardy annual, flowering the same year. Prefers a sunny position. Wonderfully fragrant they should be grown close to the house to fully appreciate their scent, which will last for months when cut and dried. Grows to a height of 12in. (30cm) and a spread of 15 in. (38cm).