Your Home, Garden and Travel

If you love dainty and delightful blooms, then you must add linum narbonense 'Heavenly Blue' (flax) to your garden. This flax is the easiest plant that I've ever grown from seed. It's so simple to sow and so undemanding to grow.

When I was sowing spring-blooming annual seeds in November, I decided to sow a few perennials, too. My 'Heavenly Blue' flax is a perennial in zones 5-9. Having no experience with flax, I sowed seeds in three different locations. The seeds not only germinated, but I have blooms for the first season!

This perennial fits into so many different places—just give it well-drained soil, full sun and very little water. I am using the flax between daffodils and pink agastache in one section of the garden and with burgundy gaillardia and yellow achillea in another location. There are a few plants in part-shade and rich soil beside my roses, but those haven't bloomed, yet.

Flax has an interesting bloom sequence. When I go out at 7:30 am, there are a few blooms. By 10:00 am, the plant is covered with blooms. By 4:00 pm, there are no blooms. It repeats this bloom cycle daily.

According to Diane's Seeds, where I purchased my seeds, this flax blooms from late spring until summer and will repeat bloom with a cutting back. It will self-sow in the garden and I'll take as many plants as I can get!

The upright foliage is a nice blue-green and with very wispy arches—beautiful with or without the blooms. I've had no problems with either deer or rabbits so far, so I'm optimistic that the critters will ignore the flax.

My only regret is that I didn't sow more seeds. This is definitely a keeper and a mass planting will be stunning!

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks/copyrights/patents owned by those respective companies or persons.