Clove-scented spikes in purple, rose, white and red: ‘Hotcakes’ and ‘Vintage’ mixes and the compact ‘Mime’ series. A cool-season annual for beds by the door, where you’ll smell it on a January evening.
Stock is the flower to plant where you walk past it: dense spikes of single and double blooms in soft purples, roses, whites and reds with a spicy clove scent that carries on cool evenings from December through April. It is frost-hardy, quick from a fall planting, and finished by the time days reach the 90s in May. It pairs with snapdragons and alyssum in beds and makes a fragrant winter container.
We commonly carry the compact ‘Mime’ series in pink, purple, red, white and mix, and the taller ‘Hotcakes’ and ‘Vintage’ mixes. The rest of the color tables are on our Annual Flowers & Foliage page.
These are the stock varieties we commonly carry. Availability changes week to week and season to season, so call (480) 987-3308 or stop in to see what’s on the bench today.
compact, 10–12 inches
A dwarf, early, mostly-double series at 10–12 inches in mixed pastels — the best stock for pots and front-of-border.
‘Mime’ in soft pink.
‘Mime’ in deep purple.
‘Mime’ in crimson-red.
‘Mime’ in white, the most fragrant of the series.
16–20 inches
A branching, 16–18-inch stock with many spikes per plant in antique pastels; good for cutting.
Uniform 18–20-inch double spikes in a full color range, the classic bedding and cutting stock.
Looking for one that isn’t listed? Ask — we can usually suggest a close match or tell you when it tends to come around.
The care tag was written somewhere else. This is the Queen Creek version.
Set out from mid-October, once highs are under 95°F, through February. October and November plantings bloom from December; February plantings from March. Stock finishes when days reach the 90s in late April or May. It takes frost to the low 20s.
Stock rots in heavy, wet soil after winter rain. Plant in beds amended with compost and raised a few inches, or in pots with a quality mix and a drainage hole. Water every three to four days in beds and two to three in pots, weekly in the coldest weeks, at the base. Let the surface dry between waterings.
The scent is strongest in the evening and in cool air. Plant stock within a few feet of a door, a bedroom window or a patio chair; in the middle of a big bed the fragrance is lost. White and pale colors are usually the most fragrant.
Full sun through the winter. Afternoon shade in April buys a couple of extra weeks of bloom; shade in winter makes it leggy and sparse.
A bloom fertilizer every two to three weeks. Cut spent spikes back to a side shoot; branching types (‘Vintage’, ‘Mime’) produce several flushes. Single-stem types give one main spike and smaller side spikes.
Aphids on the flower spikes in warm spells — hose them off. Cabbage worms occasionally, since stock is a brassica relative; hand-pick or use Bt. Downy mildew in still, humid weeks — space plants and water at the base. Stock is non-toxic to cats and dogs.
Snap a photo of the spot — sun direction, wall color, pot size — and we’ll pick a season-correct combination with you. Advice is free.
Annuals succeed or fail on what’s under them. We stock planting mix and compost for beds, potting mix for containers, bloom fertilizers including Tony’s Magic Mix and Magic Flower, starter fertilizer, drip fittings and frost cloth for the cold nights. The pottery yard has glazed and terracotta pots from 4-inch to whiskey-barrel size, window boxes and hanging baskets, and soil and mulch is sold by the bag or by the yard.
Mid-October through February. It blooms through winter and spring and finishes when the 90s arrive in May.
Wet soil, usually after winter rain in a heavy bed. Plant in raised, amended beds or pots with good drainage, and let the surface dry between waterings.
Yes — stock takes frost to the low 20s without protection.
Cut finished spikes back to a side shoot and feed every two to three weeks. Branching types like ‘Vintage’ and ‘Mime’ give several flushes.
Close to where you sit or walk in the evening — by a door, window or patio. The clove fragrance carries a few feet in cool air.
Yes, it is non-toxic to cats and dogs.
Stock live on the annuals tables; any staff member can point you to them. Locally owned, and a short drive from San Tan Valley, Gilbert, Chandler and Mesa.