Craspedia get the prize for the most bonkers flower in the Higgledy Garden…bright yellow spheres on tall and very strong stems. They remind of those 1970’s kinetic mobiles that folk had back in…well…the 70’s… Craspedia has long been used in ultra trendy florists and I am always seeing it in the style mags but to my mind it is at its best used in simple arrangements.
As regular readers will have gathered, I am getting very into simple jam jar flowers and have even stopped taking the labels off the jars…I was shabby LONG before it was chic! ;)
Growing Craspedia From Seed: Top Tips!
*I start mine in modules of good quality compost…I generally sow them in April.
*Cover the seed very lightly and keep the compost moist through germination, which takes about two weeks.
*When the plants are about 6 weeks old they can be hardened off and planted outside…but check the forecast for frost…if there is the chance of a frost just hold off.
*Space to about a foot apart. I overcrowded mine this year with some towering Rudbeckia and consequently I have smaller plants…hey ho…it’s all a learning curve.
*Most growers treat it as a half hardy annual…however Craspedia is not all that tender. If you live in a mild climate then it may well make it through the winter. Or you could bung a cloche over it perhaps.
*Craspedia is native to Australia where they call it ‘Billy Buttons’…which of course is a ridiculous title which sounds like it was named by a four year old…so please let us not adopt our antipodean cousin’s ideas on the matter. I think Craspedia ‘Wonky In The Conk’ is much more suited…
I sell Craspedia at £2.25 for 100ish seeds.
Have fun…hope y’all have a fab weekend!
Your digital chum.
Mr Higgledy.
Other growing guides you may enjoy: Larkspur, Corncockle & Cosmos ‘sensation’.
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September 30, 2013 @ 2:58 am
A flower by any other name? (well it isn’t a rose, at least)
I was amused to come across your remarks about Billy buttons, which sent me on a search for an Aboriginal name for this plant. I found a reference to Craspedia richea from Corranderk, Victoria (NE of Melbourne) in the late 1800s being called Pimpat. Perhaps you prefer that, though it was also used for Brachycome cardiocarpa, a small yellow-centred daisy. The common names of Billy buttons and Drumsticks were likely given by English settlers.
Then I learned that the current botanical name is Pycnosorus globosus, instead of Craspedia globosa, according to the Australian National Herbarium. Do try to keep up Higgeldy! If you’d like to see a pic in the wild – http://www.anbg.gov.au/cgi-bin/phtml?pc=dig&pn=17521&size=3
You’ll notice it’s a herb of open grassland, which may give a clue to its cultivation. We are more used to seeing Billy buttons in the wild (in vast expanses) and congratulate you on growing it in dinky English gardens.
Best of luck,
Gwen in Victoria
November 28, 2013 @ 6:42 pm
hey Gwen…thanks for posting…I have only just seen your comment. You have done your research!!! Good show. :) …rather wishing I was where you are right now as a wet n cold winter approaches….