💙🩵 Get to know your wildflowers … The Cornflower 💙🩵

The Cornflower (Centaurea Cyanus) also known as Bachelor’s Buttons amongst other names. It is an annual wildflower and was commonly seen in cornfields (corn referring to grains such as rye, wheat, barley or oats) hence its name. Sadly, over the years it has become endangered in its native habitat, mainly due to modern agricultural methods and the use of herbicides😔.

Cornflowers are very easy to grow from seed and thrive in well drained soil in full sun - making them a good choice for gardeners! If sown from March to May they will flower from June to September. They are hardy and quick to establish, tolerating most soil types. They are also popular with both bees and butterflies!🐝🦋

In France they are known as ‘Le Bleuet de France’, and are a symbol of remembrance. Originating in World War I by nurses who made cornflower blue badges out of tissue paper to sell, raising funds for fallen soldiers and their families. In 1935 the sale of Bleuets on Remembrance Day became an official event, culminating in the tradition of wearing cornflowers on November 11th as we do the Poppy.💙❤️

Cornflowers can be found in our all our seeds packs, we also have our special remembrance packs of poppy and cornflower seeds ❤️💙