Bishop's flower · Wuhan, Hubei, China
When to sow bishop's flowers in Wuhan
Main outdoor window
31 Jan - 28 Feb
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
21 February
In Wuhan, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
11 May - 10 Jun
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Wuhan
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Start indoors
27 Dec - 24 Jan
Eight weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
31 Jan - 28 Feb
Three weeks before your last frost.
Plant out
7 Feb - 7 Mar
Two weeks before your last frost.
In flower
11 May - 10 Jun
Bishop's flowers through the year
Against the frost risk in Wuhan
Why these dates
Sow direct three weeks before the last frost, or start indoors eight weeks before it in modules - it moves reasonably well when small, unlike most umbellifers. Support a stand with a single row of netting; at 1.2m it goes over in wind. An autumn sowing gives the strongest stems.
Hardy to about -12C as a young plant, which makes it one of the most reliable hardy annuals for autumn sowing in zone 7 and milder. Tolerates heat better than most of this group.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Bishop's flowers are timed from 8 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Wuhan.
Hardiness is not the obstacle here. Wuhan is zone 9a, comfortably inside the range this crop is rated for, so an established plant should come through an average winter without protection.
The median frost-free season here is 289 days, against 100 to 130 days to first flower for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Wuhan
Other flowers to time
Growing bishop's flowers in Wuhan
When should I plant bishop's flowers in Wuhan?
Aim for 31 Jan - 28 Feb in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 17 Feb - 17 Mar - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will bishop's flowers be ready to harvest in Wuhan?
Expect to start picking around 11 May - 10 Jun, based on 100 to 130 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will bishop's flowers tolerate?
Hardy to about -12C as a young plant, which makes it one of the most reliable hardy annuals for autumn sowing in zone 7 and milder. Tolerates heat better than most of this group.