Erysimum cheiri 'F1 Sugar Rush, Purple' - Due End November 2024

Erysimum cheiri 'F1 Sugar Rush' is a versatile and hardy biennial that stands out for its vibrant colours and repeat blooming cycle. Unlike traditional wallflowers, 'Sugar Rush' is notable for its ability to flower both in autumn and spring, providing long-lasting garden colour when many other plants are dormant.
Renowned for its striking, jewel-like hues that stand out even in cooler weather, the bicoloured flowers of 'Sugar Rush Purple emerge with an apricot/burgundy flush and turn lilac/purple as they mature. The compact plants reach a height of around 30cm (12in) with a similar spread and boast better branching than traditional open-pollinated wallflowers, with multiple side branches that accompany the main flower spike. The plants create a dense, mounded display perfect for borders, containers, or window boxes. The vibrant colours provide a strong contrast to the dark green foliage, which remains compact throughout its growing season.

'Sugar Rush' is ultra-fast in production and does not require cool temperatures for flowering. Dependent on time of year they are sown, they can be in flower as little as 9 weeks from sowing. Even during warm temperatures they will still produces dark green healthy foliage and great natural branching. Once planted out they will withstand heavy frost and wintry conditions, making nice bushy plants that will then re-flower in early Spring. Alternatively, it can be grown as a flowering plant in early spring in as little as 14 to 16 weeks from sowing.

One of the most notable features of the 'Sugar Rush' wallflower is its unique dual-season flowering. Unlike traditional wallflowers that primarily bloom in spring, 'Sugar Rush' flowers in both autumn and spring. This makes it an ideal choice for gardeners who want to extend the blooming period and add colour to their gardens during the cooler months when many other plants have finished flowering. They are also hardy enough to overwinter in many regions, which means it can survive through frost and continue blooming the following spring.

The sweet fragrance of 'Sugar Rush' not only adds sensory appeal to the garden but also attracts pollinators like bees and butterflies, making it a valuable plant for wildlife-friendly gardening. 'Sugar Rush' thrives in full sun and can tolerate poor soils, offering garden resilience through harsh conditions and frost. Moreover, this award-winning plant is easy to grow and maintain, requiring minimal effort to brighten up spaces year-round.
A versatile companion to pansies or tulips, Wallflower 'Sugar Rush' is the perfect addition to autumn and winter gardening.

Sowing: Sow in late summer to early winter (June to Aug) for spring flowering or sow in late winter to early spring (Jan to Mar) for autumn flowering.
For best results, it is recommended to plant 'Sugar Rush' wallflowers in autumn. This allows the plants to establish themselves before winter, ensuring a vibrant display in both autumn and the following spring. They can be planted in containers, borders, or as part of mixed displays with other perennials and annuals. Gardeners often plant 'Sugar Rush' alongside early spring bulbs such as tulips or daffodils, creating a beautiful combination of flowers when spring arrives​.

Starting in Pots:
Surface sow in pots or containers containing good quality seed compost (John Innes or similar) Cover with a fine thin layer of compost or vermiculite.
The compost should be kept moist but not wet at all times. Seed germinate in seven to 10 days at 20°C (68°F).
Prick out each seedling as it becomes large enough to handle, transplant into 7.5cm (3in) pots. Gradually acclimatise to outdoor conditions for 10 to 15 days before planting out after all risk of frost.

Sowing Direct:
Seeds may also be sown outdoors directly where they are to flower or in a reserve bed in a sheltered position. Prick out to 15cm (6in) apart and transplant in October.

Cultivation:
Deadheading wallflowers prolongs their bloom, but let some of them go to seed. They are often generous self-sowers, or you can gather the seed and resow it yourself.
All parts of the plant are poisonous. specially the seeds. Plant contains Cheirotoxin that has similar but lesser toxic effects as Digitalis does.

Plant Uses: Plant in rock gardens, containers, beds, and borders.
Wallflowers are pleasant by paths and doorsteps, and will bloom all winter in a cool room in sunlight. They make good cut flowers, too.
They look great interplanted with tulips, especially the lily-flowered types whose elegant forms contrast nicely with the mounded flower heads of the wallflowers.

Origin:
There are basically two types of wall flower, ‘Siberian’ and ‘English’. The Siberian types have flowers that are always orange or yellow-orange, with the English types having purples, whites and pinks as in the picture above. Both make good garden plants
A member of the Brassicaceae family, isn't it interesting that the cabbage family gives us some of our most fragrant florals, including not only wallflowers, but also garden stocks and the wonderful night-scented stock! While the vegetable branch of the family is rather smelly and malodorous, due to the high sulphur content of their leaves, the members grown for their flowers couldn't smell more bewitching. One of the innumerable mysteries of the garden... !

Nomenclature:
Wallflowers have a long history. The heavily scented biennial flower was commonly carried as a nosegay to smother the stench of Elizabethan streets. And the name cheiranthus is thought to derive from the Greek for hand (cheir) and flower (anthos), indicating their use as a floral version of the pomander.

John Gerard, writing in 1596, said that "the wallflower groweth on bricke and stone walls, in the corners of churches, as also among rubbish and other such stony places everywhere", alluding to how the plant got its common name, as well as its love of good drainage and sun. Many varieties have been around for at least a century and some bear the prefix Bedder, an indication of their wide use in Victorian planting schemes.