Winter Flame Wallflower Plants

Erysimum × hybrida 'Winter Flame'

What a scorcher! This perennial wallflower will ignite the border with its fiery, rich red flowers. This short-lived perennial will start flowering early and keep up a display of sweetly scented, crimson flowers until high summer.

Browse our other wallflowers, or all our annual bedding flowers.

Features

• Colour: Red
• Flowering: Jan/February to July/August.
• Fragrance: Sweet
• Foliage: Dark grey-green.
• Height: 50-60cm.
• Full sun. Well-drained, alkaline to neutral soil.
• Likes a sheltered site in the North
• RHS Plants for Pollinators

Growing 'Winter Flame' Wallflower

Erysimum is a brassica, a member of the cabbage family. It is drought-tolerant, and prefers poorer soils with sharp drainage, and alkaline to neutral pH. They are ideal for gravel, Mediterranean-style, and coastal gardens.

It is quite hardy, RHS rating H5, but its foliage will suffer in windy and wet cold winters without protection: a bit of fleece in midwinter goes a long way to keep the worst of it off, or it may be more convenient to grow your wallflowers in pots and move them into shelter. But a well drained, sunny urban microclimate, shielded from the wind by buildings should be fine.

Chop plants in half after flowering. Propagate cuttings to replace plants when they are a few years old

In Your Garden Design

Set the border alight with this richly coloured little perennial, using it to contrast with zinging euphorbias and a 'Spring Green' tulip. Or, as it is the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, go for a patriotic take on red, white and blue by putting it with white phlox and Alba lavender.

Its compact growth also makes it great for growing in pots or low walls around a patio area.

Did You Know?

Among the others grown in this series by the German nursery Kientzler are 'Winter Power' (yellow), 'Winter Orchid' (orange & pink/purple) and 'Winter Spice' (orange).

Likes full sun in well-drained, alkaline or neutral poor soil. Space 60cm apart. Water until established, then drought-tolerant. May need protection in cold, damp winters. Suitable for containers.

Wallflowers are a classic partner for bulbs, here we plant them with tulips.