'Heavenly Blue' Tweedia

Tweedia caerulea

Origin: South America

Improvement status: Cultivar

Seeds per packet: ~10

Germination tested 2/2024: 82%

Life cycle: Annual or tender perennial

Tweedia is a lovely pale-blue-flowering tender perennial native to South America from southern Brazil to Uruguay. It's grown as an annual below Zone 10. This is an improved introduction from the legendary Dutch flower breeder plant explorer Kees Sahin, collected around 1986 (before he died in 2006, Sahin had assembled a collection of 13,000 pansies!). This cultivar is quite uncommon in the seed trade. Our source, Frank Morton of Wild Garden Seeds, describes this variety as "useful for cut flowers, potted or patio plants." A useful nectary for butterflies and other pollinators. The Tweedia genus is sometimes known as Oxypetalum.

GROWING TIPS: Germinate with available light, consistent moisture, and bottom heat. Growing support will help keep plants upright in windy or greenhouse situations. Pinch to encourage branching.