Flower · Boraginaceae
When to sow honeyworts
Grey-blue succulent foliage under nodding purple bracts, dripping nectar that bees find from a distance. A Mediterranean annual that looks like a much rarer plant than it is.
Start seed indoors
8 weeks before
Counted from your last spring frost.
Plant out
2 weeks before
Counted from your last spring frost.
Sow direct
2 weeks before
Counted from your last spring frost.
Those weeks become real dates once you name a place.
Timing, in frost-relative terms
Seed packets rarely give calendar dates, because a date that suits one latitude is wrong at another. They give offsets from the last spring frost instead, and those offsets are what make honeyworts plantable anywhere.
- Start seed indoors 8 weeks before the last frost.
- Plant out 2 weeks before the last frost.
- Sow direct 2 weeks before the last frost.
- Expect 80–100 days to maturity, counted from sowing.
- Hardy in USDA zones 4a–10a.
Getting the timing right
Sow indoors eight weeks before the last frost and plant out two weeks before, or sow direct two weeks before it. The seed is large and germinates best in the dark, so cover it properly. Self-seeds readily on light soil and comes true.
Frost tolerance
Hardy to about -8C, so autumn sowing works in zone 8 and milder. Needs sharp drainage above all: it rots in a wet winter long before the cold reaches it.
Classified as hardy, with damage expected below -8°C (17.6°F)17.6°F (-8°C).