Don't Be a Wallflower, But Do Plant a Few

At the high school dance, maybe it took a little effort not to be a wallflower. We all have to get our confidence up. But the Wallflowers for your garden are the right mix of polite reserve, confidence in the form of wonderful color, and fun…. They’re flowering plants that can be enjoyed all summer. 

What Is a Wallflower?

Erysimum, or Wallflower, is a genus of plants that can add lots of color to a garden patch. A single Erysimum petal is quite miniscule. But in their clustered growth habit, these petals give the effect of colorful confetti which has fallen atop nice shrubby greenery.

Erysimum Erysistible™ 'Bronze Rose' is a multi-colored Wallflower hybrid. It mixes pink, orange, and rose-purple. Give it a quick look and you’ll see the bronzed effect. This accounts for its name. While some petals appear to be painted with watercolor, others are more saturated. This mix creates an uncommon and appealing “look”.

Pretty Pairings

If you like Snapdragons with painterly blooms, you might want to pair them with one or more of the Erysimum varieties. Where Snapdragons grow in a rather upright manner, the Wallflower appears as more of a mound. 

Many Wallflower varieties have single-toned blooms—for example, all golden yellow—but with Erysimum Erysistible™ 'Bronze Rose', working with plants in combination really isn’t necessary. So much color comes from the one plant, little else is needed. 

But most gardeners do like to combine plants to make the most of the plants' different colors and textures. You might consider pairing Wallflowers with taller flowering plants such as Orange Butterfly Weed, another sun-lover with a flurry of colorful petals. You might also contrast different textures, for example, pairing the flowers of Erysimum Erysistible™ 'Bronze Rose' with their lacy effect with broader patches of color—color created by Supertunia 'Royal Magenta', Supertunia 'Vista Jazzberry', and perhaps Superbells 'Tangerine Punch'.

Think of yourself as doing color chromatography, breaking down mixed color into its component parts. Take the multi colors of Erysimum Erysistible™ 'Bronze Rose', and plant them near a patch made up solely of rosy-purple or magenta, another large swath of nothing but lighter pink, a patch of orange…. With these colors in the form of sizable blooms (think of the large and velvety petals of Petunias), the contrast with the tiny clustered flowers of the Wallflower is very attractive.

Long-Lasting Blooms

If you know the plant called Stock—Matthiola—you’ll have a family-mate to go along with the Erysimum plants you choose. Both members of the Brassicaceae family can be grown together, with Stock having bigger blooms but similar lasting power. Stock’s flowers last for a couple of months. The blooms of Erysimum last even longer, from the time warm weather arrives to the time it is absolutely out of the picture, provided good deadheading is done. As with all plants, Erysimum can begin to surmise it has done its work for the season if you allow spent blooms and seeds to take over where flowers once were. Faithful deadheading will keep your plants focused in the right direction—more good weather ahead, more work to be done.

Get your dance card ready. The Wallflower, in plant form, is ready to delight… no standing on the sidelines with this one.