Phacelia tanacetifolia Seeds | Phacelia
LATIN NAME: Phacelia tanacetifolia
COMMON NAME: Phacelia
Plant Profile
Phacelia tanacetifolia, better known as Phacelia, is an annual in the waterleaf family. Phacelia is fine, curling, blue-flowered cover crop that bees cannot leave alone. The whole plant is quick, easy and generous, and it is one of the great green manures of the vegetable garden. It is a plant of open, sunny, well-drained ground. Put simply, this is a rewarding species for anyone willing to give it a suitable spot.
Science & Biotechnology
The species features in the wider study of the waterleaf family, and its traits make it a useful subject for work on germination biology, cultivation and ornamental selection. Phacelia has carved a quiet but solid place in plant science, and annual has been studied for tight, one-sided curls of lavender-blue flowers and its fine place among nectar plants. Species like this one find a second career as research material, especially in propagation and breeding work.
Uses & Benefits
Phacelia works well in borders, containers and dedicated beds. Phacelia does a lot of work in garden and wider world. Small, bell-shaped, lavender-blue flowers are one of great nectar flowers of garden, feeding bees, hoverflies and butterflies through summer, and quick, easy annual is one of great green manures, smothering weeds and feeding the soil. Soft, ferny leaves and curling flower heads give it a fine, airy presence in border and wild corner. Thereafter it wants only the ordinary attentions any garden plant receives.
Phacelia is among the world’s best honey and pollinator plants, sown in field margins to feed bees and improve soil; it is a friend to every gardener.
Growing from Seed
Seed is the natural starting point for Phacelia, and the process is uncomplicated. Broadcast the seed thinly over a fine, free-draining compost, sieve a little more compost on top, and water with a fine rose. When the young plants are big enough to handle, space them into pots or a nursery row and let them size up before their final move.
Our Take
As an annual, it settles into a routine quickly once established. Among the Phacelia group, it is one of the more distinctive species in cultivation. From then on, routine care is all that is required.
Related Reading
Gardeners who grow Phacelia often pair it with these related subjects: