This white-flowered Honesty, Lunaria annua Alba, produces masses of pure white flowers in spring. Then the silvery moon-like seed cases form, shimmering in every breath of air. So this Honesty works hard in your garden for months and comes highly recommended by the RHS with both an AGM and a place on the Plants for Pollinators list.
🌸 Flowering: April to June, followed be seed discs
📏 Height: to 60cm
🌿 Biennial
Sow: follow the natural cycle of this plant by sowing in the open in August or in pots in September to November. Cover the seeds lightly. Place the pots in a cold frame or unheated greenhouse. The natural cold over the winter will help trigger the seeds to germinate. Plant out when large enough to handle in the spring. These seeds can also be sown earlier from March, but you may find that germination is a bit more erratic and spread out over a long time.
Grow: happy in full sun or partial shade. Cut the seed heads for drying or leave them in place for small seed-eating birds and to let it seed itself around.
Enjoy: plant where the evening light can catch and illuminate those moon-like seed discs. I like it growing with foxgloves and letting both of these wonderful biennials naturally pop up around the garden.
🏡 In your garden
• Cottage and informal gardens
• Wildlife gardens and pollinator plantings
• Flower borders and beds
• Cutting gardens
✂️ Cut flower
• Lovely for spring arrangements
• Fresh flowers can wilt quickly unless you sear the stem ends in near-boiling water for 20 to 30 seconds
• Fresh vase life of 7 to 14 days
• The papery, moon-like seed pods last for months, sometimes years, once dried. Pick in late summer and keep in a warm, dry place
🐝 Pollinator friendly
• RHS Plants for Pollinators recommended
• An early source of nectar for bees and butterflies
🐞 Wildlife friendly
• An important caterpillar food plant for the orange-tip butterfly.
🍴 Edible
• The leaves are best eaten young and raw in salads or cooked like cabbage. They have a bitter flavour once the plant flowers.
• The flowers can be used as a garnish. Young flowers have a slightly sweet taste but they quickly acquire a peppery edge so we tend to use them on salads.
• For a fiery mustard flavour you can crush the green seed pods.
💡 Did you know?
Some foraging books mention the roots as edible. Personally, I can't imagine digging up a perfectly good Honesty plant and sacrificing all those lovely seed pods just to find out!
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