Annuals & Biennials

Cheiranthus
wallflower

Height 1/2-2 ft (15-60 cm)
Planting distance 10-15 in (25-38 cm)
Flowers midspring to early summer
Well-drained soil, preferably alkaline or neutral
Full sun
hardy biennial in zone 8 and south; half-hardy annual elsewhere

With its dense spikes of richly colored blooms and its heady fragrance, the wallflower deserves its reputation as the queen of spring and early-summer biennials. Cheiranthus is name used in most nursery catalogs, although botanists have reclassified the plants as Erysimum. In any case, many cultivars are now available. These provide the gardener with an enormous range of colors to choose from: shades of yellow, apricot, pink, and purple, or strong, clear reds, oranges, and yellows. All have spikes of freely produced flowers and green lance-shaped leaves. Most cultivars are anything up to 2 ft (60 cm) high - excellent for growing in borders and formal beds or as cut flowers. But there are dwarf kinds only 1/2-1 ft (15-30 cm) high, which are useful for rock gardens and small informal patches placed near the house so that their scent can waft through open windows.

Popular species and cultivars
Cheiranthus x allionii (Erysimum allioni), the Siberian wallflower, has had a few cultivars developed from it. They form compact plants with yellow or orange flowers appearing from late spring to early summer.
'Aurora' grows 10-12 in (25-30 cm) tall and bears flowers in shades of orange, brown, apricot, and purple.
'Glasnost Hybrids' are 1 ft (30 cm) high plants, with fragrant flowers in a range of pastel colors, including lilac.
'Spring Jester' is a seed mixture producing plants 1 ft (30 cm) high with flowers in shades of apricot, orange, golden yellow, lemon, lilac, and occasionally white.
Cheiranthus cheiri (now reclassified as Erysimum cheiri) has spawned numerous cultivars, dwarf and tall. The following are some of the most readily available cultivars.
Dwarf cultivars
'Dwarf Mixed' includes a good range of colors and reaches 1 ft (30 cm) high.
'Golden Bedder' has large golden yellow flowers and reaches 10 in (25 cm) high.
'Orange Bedder' has rich orange flowers, shading to apricot, and reaches 10 in (25 cm) high.
'Primrose Bedder' has primrose-yellow flowers and reaches 10 in (25 cm) high.
'Scarlet Bedder' has rich scarlet flowers and reaches 10 in (25 cm) high.
'Tom Thumb Hybrids' produce late-flowering blooms in mixed colors; the plants grow only 6-9 in (15-23 cm) high.
Tall cultivars
'Blood Red' has early, deep velvety red flowers and reaches 15 in (38 cm) high.
'Cloth of Gold' has large, golden sweet-scented flowers and reaches 15 in (38 cm) high.
'Eastern Queen' has salmon-red flowers and reaches 15 in (38 cm) high.
'Fair Lady Hybrids' come in mixed pastel shades and stand 12-15 in (30-38 cm) high.
'Fire King' offers bright scarlet-orange flowers and reaches 15 in (38 cm) high.
'White Dame' has cream-white flowers and is 15 in (38 cm) high.

Annuals
and
Biennials