Key Features
- Beautiful purple to lavender-blue flower clusters with distinctive curled, fiddlehead-like blooms.
- Annual flowering plant with attractive fern-like foliage and an upright, bushy growth habit.
- Excellent choice for pollinator gardens, wildlife gardens, borders, meadows, and cut-flower areas.
- Highly attractive to bees and other beneficial pollinating insects for nectar and pollen.
- Fast-growing cool-season flower that can also be used as a cover crop or green manure.
Growing Benefits
- Adds attractive purple and lavender-blue color to garden spaces.
- Provides valuable nectar and pollen for bees and other pollinators.
- Works well in pollinator gardens, informal borders, and wildflower-style plantings.
- Can help provide ground cover and biomass when grown as a cover crop.
- Suitable for gardeners looking for an easy-to-establish annual flowering plant.
Seed Specifications
Common Name: Purple Phacelia, Lacy Phacelia, Purple Tansy, Blue Tansy
Botanical Name: Phacelia tanacetifolia
Plant Type: Annual broadleaf flowering plant
Colors: Purple, lavender-blue, and soft blue tones
Height: Approximately two to three feet, depending on growing conditions
Sunlight: Full sun
Soil: Fertile, well-drained soil; tolerates a range of soil types
Water: Moderate; keep soil evenly moist during establishment and avoid waterlogged conditions
Germination Time: Commonly about seven to fourteen days under suitable conditions, though conditions can affect emergence
Sowing Depth: About one-eighth to one-quarter inch deep
Spacing: Thin plants according to intended use; around several inches to about one foot apart works for garden plantings
Growing Zones: Best treated as an annual; planting timing depends on local climate and frost conditions
Flowering/Maturity: Often begins flowering several weeks after emergence, with flowering timing varying by climate and planting date
Uses: Pollinator gardens, wildlife gardens, borders, wildflower plantings, cut flowers, cover crops, and green manure
Growing Tips
- Sow directly where the plants are intended to grow because phacelia generally establishes well from direct seeding.
- Cover the seeds lightly rather than planting deeply, as shallow sowing supports better emergence.
- Keep the soil surface gently moist during germination, then water according to weather and soil conditions.
- Grow in full sun and provide well-drained soil for strong growth and abundant flowering.
Seed Storage
Store unused seeds in a cool, dry, dark location away from moisture, heat, and direct sunlight. Keep seeds in a tightly sealed container or their original packet. Avoid storing seeds in areas with frequent temperature or humidity changes.
Unique Facts About Seeds
- Phacelia tanacetifolia is native to California and is widely grown elsewhere as a pollinator plant and cover crop.
- The plant has distinctive fern-like foliage and curved flower clusters that give it its fiddlehead-like appearance.
- Phacelia is particularly attractive to bees and other pollinating insects because its flowers provide nectar and pollen.
- It is a non-leguminous plant that can be used as a nitrogen-catch cover crop rather than fixing nitrogen like legumes.