Serena® Purple Angelonia Seeds

Serena® is a dream come true for Angelonia lovers—the first variety EVER available from seed for the home gardener. Now you can grow this long-blooming, sun-loving, heat- and humidity-tolerant annual for pennies a plant.

Serena® is a bit shorter than other Angelonias, but that's all to the good. The 10- to 12-inch stems (much taller in the South—up to 18 inches) sport long rows of splendid 3/4-inch blooms that open gradually over several weeks, giving you bright color all summer. And this is a well-branched plant 12 to 14 inches wide, with more flowering stems than you'd expect and such an easy-care nature.

Use Serena® as you would salvia in the hot, dry garden. It doesn't need to be deadheaded after bloom—fresh flowering stems simply arise to replace the old ones—and it attracts bees. Although it's quite drought tolerant, it also fares well in moist soils. And at just a foot high, it's ideal for containers.

The Serena® series contains other fine colors: lavender pink, lavender, and white. Challenge it to your hottest, driest, most difficult garden spot this summer, and I think you'll be amazed by the results.

Sow these pelleted seeds at about 74 degrees Fahrenheit. They'll sprout in less than a week, at which time you can grow them on at any soil temperature between 68 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Transplant into the sunny garden when they have at least 2 sets of true leaves and all danger of frost is past. They bloom 13 to 14 weeks from sowing.

This seed comes as a "pellet". "Pelleted" seeds are small seeds that have been clay-coated to make them larger and more uniform in size and shape, making them easier to handle when planting.