Winter Orchid Wallflower Plants

Erysimum × hybrida Winter Orchid

Like the champion racehorse Desert Orchid, 'Winter Orchid' is a surefire winner. These short-lived perennial wallflowers start flowering early and keep up a display of sweetly scented, orange, maturing to pink-purple flowers until summer is mostly over.

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

Features

• Colour: Starts orange, matures to pink/purple
• 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 Orchid' 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

'Winter Orchid' has the delightful characteristic of producing flowers of many hues over its long flowering season. With compact growth, it is perfect for a pot, or place it at the front of the border alongside tulips, lavender and bright green euphorbias.

Did You Know?

Part of the series bred by the German nursery Kientzler which include 'Winter Power' (yellow), 'Winter Flame' (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.