Purple Balloon Flower Seeds

Description

Purchase these purple Balloon Flower seeds and beautify your garden with unique star shaped blooms. You may know this plant by its botanical name Platycodon grandiflorus. The plant gets its common name from the unopened blooms that resemble a balloon. Once opened the flowers are star shaped with 5 points. If you look closely at the photos, you’ll notice that the petals of the bloom are not separate but rather joined as one. The plants grow multiple flower stalks from a central which can be divided every couple years. The average height is about 30″ and they do best in full sun. Flowering period is usually summer or late summer and if you deadhead spent blooms, it will extend the bloom time. When the flowers die off there is a resulting pod that will provide food for wild birds. Also, if you leave spent blooms on the plant, you’ll likely be rewarded with some volunteer plants that grow from the naturally sown purple Balloon flower seeds.

Sowing Balloon Flower Seeds

Seeds can be direct sown. Simply spread the seed on top of the soil in early Spring after the threat of frost has passed. The seeds do not need to be buried but a thin layer of soil will help keep them moist. You should see sprout in a couple weeks. Personally, we like to start our Balloon Flower seeds in a more controlled environment like a seed starting tray. Simply moisten the seed starting mix and sprinkle a couple seeds on top of each cell and cover the tray with a humidity dome until the seedlings sprout. The new Balloon flower will usually flower the first year although the plants won’t get very large until the second year. Although it is said that these plants can be difficult to divide because of the long tap root we’ve never had a problem. The method we use is to divide the base with a spade shovel in early spring.

Be sure and take a look at our other flower seeds.