Winged Everlasting Seeds from Alchemy Works - Seeds for Magick Herbs and Pagan Gardens

Ammobium Winged Everlasting (Ammobium alatum) Info

Here's an odd little Australian plant with very cheerful flowers. The winged part of the plant is the stem, which is so strange looking that is seems artificial. Although the wings might seem to make this an Air plant, the flower shape is classic Sun. Sun plants are good for protection and for prosperity. I think they work because they just make you feel good to look at them, and when you feel good, you tend to do good. These plants tend to clump and make a good border plant, which is great for a protective herb. Winged everlastings also attract bees and butterflies. The flowers appear all summer on long stems held above the rosettes of pale green or fuzzy leaves (fuzziness is going to depend on how dry your climate is). They make a good cut or dried flower, and you can usually get several harvests from one plant during the season. When dried, the central yellow disk will darken. Some people don't like that and so they cut the flower for drying when it is just beginning to open; that way, the flower only opens partially and shows only white. Others like the golden brown color that the central disks dry to, so they harvest the flowers when the yellow disk is just beginning to show. Either way, hang the flowers upside-down in a dark room to dry. This plant is perennial only in very warm climates, but it will reseed readily and can even be invasive in some areas. This is the wild version of this plant. It's one of the easiest to germinate of the dried flowers (another dried flower candidate is baby's breath). This plant is also known as the sandflower.

How to Grow Winged Everlasting

Ammobium flowers The seed germinates in 4-6 days, 60-70F/16-20C. Start this seed in small pots and set the plants out in partial to full sun and somewhat sandy soil after danger of frost. The plant gets 24-48in/60-120cm tall. Space them space 18-24in/45-60cm apart. Winged everlasting is a tender perennial, so it's perennial in warm areas (zones 7-11); elsewhere, grow it as an annual and collect the seeds to replant in spring or allow it to reseed. General growing info