(Linum grandiflorum)

This attractive, easily grown annual from North Africa is happy in most any soil. Colorful, two inch flowers bloom atop 18-inch stems. Most varieties bear red blossoms, but some have bluish purple, pink or white flowers with a satiny appearance. The leaves are narrow and grasslike. Common flax, from which linen and linseed oil are made, is rarely used as a garden flower, but it makes an attractive annual, growing 2 to 3 feet tall and bearing sky-blue, or occasionally white, flowers.

Flax is very difficult to transplant, so it's best to sow the seeds outdoors where you want them to grow any time in the fall, or as early in spring as you can prepare the soil. Space the seeds so that the plants will stand 8 to 10 inches apart. Sow more seeds at intervals of three to four weeks to have successive crops of flowers. This is necessary because each plant blossoms only three to four weeks. Flowering flax needs full sun and well drained soil. Expect flowers about 100 days after sowing seeds.

Flax makes a colorful border plant, and blooms most profusely where summers are cool.

• Type
  annual
• Propagation
  seeds
• Light
  full sun
• Flower Color
  red, bluish purple, pink or white
• Bloom Time
  summer
• Height
  18-24 inches
• Width
  8 inches
• Soil Requirements
  well drained
• Zones
  all
• Uses
  border, cutflowers