Showy Milkweed Pink Seeds Flower. 50 Seeds.
Lavender and white with golden throats, these charming little flowers are bound to delight. Bird's Eyes are originally from California but can also thrive as an annual in tougher climates. Their sweet, chocolatey fragrance is a real draw for hummingbirds.
The Gilia genus mostly includes plants that love the desert, native to the region from the western United States down to South America. Spanish botanists Hipolito Ruiz and Jose Antonio Pavon discovered the first known Gilia species during their journey to South America, later documenting it along with other species in a 1794 publication of their findings from Peru and Chile. They named this family of flowers Gilia to honor Filippo Luigi Gilii (1756-1821), an Italian naturalist they greatly respected for his studies on South American native plants at the Vatican Observatory.
Common Names: Bird's Eyes Gilia
Latin Name: Gilia tricolor
Species Origin: Native Wildflower from the US
Type: Native Wildflowers
Life Cycle: Annual
USDA Zones: 1 through 12
US Regions: California, Mountain areas, Arid/Desert regions, Plains/Texas, Midwest, Northern regions, Northeast, Southeast
Seeds per Ounce: 65,000
Stratification: No need for Stratification
Germination Ease: No Stratification required
Sunlight: Prefers Full Sun
Plant Height: Ranges from 12" to 18"
Plant Spacing: 6 to 12 inches apart
Color: White and Pink
Bloom Season: Flowers in Late Spring and Early Summer
Attracts bees, birds, and butterflies.
Sowing: Plant directly in late fall, just beneath the surface. If you're planting in spring, mix the seeds with some damp sand and pop them in the fridge for 30 days; then, you can sow them directly. To start indoors, plant Bird's Eye seeds in a flat or individual peat pots about 6-8 weeks before the last frost; keep the soil lightly moist and at around 70 degrees F until they germinate, which usually takes about two weeks. Once the weather warms up and the seedlings are strong, you can transplant them outside.
Growing: Make sure to keep the soil moist while the seedlings are growing, which will take a bit of time at first. Once they mature, these plants can handle drought pretty well and prefer hot, dry conditions; just be careful not to overwater, as that can lead to disease. This plant does well in rocky or sandy soil. It will self-sow and is super attractive to butterflies and bees.
Harvesting: To get fresh flowers, cut long stems of flowers that have just opened and put them in water right away; make sure to remove any leaves that will be submerged.
Seed Saving: After the flowers bloom, they will turn into dry capsules that open up to show several brown seeds; you can either cut the ripened heads or shake the whole plant over a container to collect the Gilia Tricolor seeds. Keep the cleaned Bird's Eye seeds in a cool, dry spot.
