Planting out Cobaea scandens

Planting out Cobaea scandens

Cobaea scandens is one of my all time favourite plants because of its dainty flowers and its rigorous nature. It can be picked right the way through until Christmas too, which makes it great value for money in any cut and come again garden.

Once you pick it, sear the stems in water for a maximum of two seconds before putting them into cold water.

Cobaea will then last for around 10 days in a vase or arrangement.

Sow early to ensure flowering

Cobaea scandens are one of our earliest sowings, and we sow them in January along with our sweet peas. We sow them in one litre pots, which allows them to develop a deep root system so we'll have healthy and strong plants.

Cobaea won't start flowering until they are six feet in height, so you need to maximise their growth to get a good number of flowers.

To maximise your Cobaea growth:

• sow your seed in a one litre pot
• train your plant up a frame
• do not remove the frame when you plant out
• plant out when it is at least 30 cm tall next to a growing frame
• loosely tie the main growth shoot to your frame to encourage it
• generally plant your cobaea plants against every other upright of your frame as they are so vigorous.