PlantFiles: Clarkia, Garland Flower, Mountain Garland
Clarkia elegans

Garland flower comes in a rainbow of colors including red, rose, orange, purple and white. Flower spikes 2 feet or larger open from the bottom upward. Native to North America it also makes an excellent cut flower.

I first grew clarkia because I had good experiences with godetia in our climate, and they are related. The clarkia were late to bloom, but put on quite a show. I planted a mix of doubles, and they bloomed in white, rose, salmon, lavender, and pink. The blooms appeared along the woody stems, as did the seed pods, shaped like little cucumbers.

Beautiful, nontoxic, easy to grow in a warm climate!!!

I live in Central Texas, on the border of Zones 7 and 8. I got it for .50. It was on clearance; slightly wilty. I figured, what the heck... 50 cents is nothing. I bought it for my 4 year old niece 2 years ago who wanted it for its elegant, delicately shaped purple flowers that sort of resemble small orchids.

Flower color is a very intense purple. My niece says they are the color of Grimace (a McBurger & Shake monster). I bought it for her & watered it. It perked up in minutes. My niece didn't know how to take care of it and her Mom, a working gal, was too busy. I agreed to grow it for my niece when she visits.

We're SO glad I planted it! It became my niece's favorite excuse to come visit me (I'm 30 miles away). When she visits she makes bouquets, crowns, and necklace-garlands out of the many flower spikes (hence the name). It went into unamended clay in a sunny and poorly drained part of my Iris bed in June. I neither fertilized nor mulched.

It's been pest and disease free since planting. Hungry sowbugs, gluttonous locusts (grasshopper plague), even vicious fire ants leave it be!! I didn't even have to water except in severe drought! All I did was remove grass from it once a month, leaving a 1" grassless zone around it.

It amazingly survives Summer temps up to 110F even without mulch..now that's a trick! It goes dormant in severe drought (here, that's all of August). When temps are above 40F & below 90F and soil is moist/wet, it bears TONS of cute 1" purple flowers on long racemes. It looks sort of like Larkspur spikes, except this plant is nontoxic.

Except for snoozing thru Summer scorch (can you blame it??), it blooms from the moment in Spring that my Irises quit flowering (mid Feb) all the way to the moment in Fall that my Fall flowers (goldenrods, mums, asters) bloom (early Nov). That's a heckuva blooming season! Supposedly, this plant is an annual.

But I mulched it under 2" of straw just in case. To our delight, it sprang up early this Feb. in the exact same spot, from dormant roots or some seeds it had dropped. You can't beat that with a stick. 2 years of outstanding floral display, and still going strong!

All this for .50 ...Unbelievable! I would have paid $5 if I knew it would turn out this well. Overall, this plant is Highly Recommended!!!

this plant was grown in this country in the early 1900's. i'm reading a historical novel and it says "....flowerbed of roses, zinnias, cosmos, poppies and clarkias." i had no idea what these were so i came here to the database.

This plant is also listed in some seed books as Mountain Garland. This will be my first year for this plant and looking forward to adding it to my garden. I winter sowed it the first week of Feb and I think every seed germinated.

I've grown this plant for several years--mostly in pots--and it puts on a nice show. It blooms for a long time from seed that I usually plant fairly early in the season (March, mostly). I've had better luck with elegans than with other kinds of clarkia, but that may just be due to my climate or conditions. It does reseed, but not heavily.

Clarkia It is a perfect choice for a cottage garden. They look stunning with feverfew var white wonder. It doesn't seem very picky about soil--it does fine in my somewhat amended clay soil. It does not self-sow so you will have to start from seed each year.

It is a very easy annual to start from seed. Don't start these too early, they get very leggy and droppy if left in seed packs too long. Its best to start about 4 weeks before planting out time in your area. they can handle chilly nights (as low as 40F) until summer gets into full swing. If planted when only 2-3" tall, they will be upright in the garden. If you let them sit in seedling packs longer they will ramble rather than reach their full height. In my area that is about 18".

I started these rather late from seed in a window box. They did reach the point that 1 or 2 had small blooms. Then they just started turning brown & have gone downhill ever since. They were no more than 6-8 inches long & were more like a vine than upright. Maybe, based on the comments by bemidjigreen, I left them too long in the cells? That might account for the floppiness & maybe for the stunted growth. But I can't figure out why they are dying. Anyway, unless someone can tell me what I did wrong I don't plan to try this one again.