Flax: when to sow, plant and see it flower
Sowing, planting and flowering dates for your climate, with growing advice.
Photo: Radfotosonn, Pixabay Content License · image resized
When to sow and plant in your region
Average dates, computed from the frost dates of each climate. For your exact dates, choose your town.
| Climate | Sow outdoors | Flowering |
|---|---|---|
| South and east of England | 20 February – 22 May | 23 May – 3 September |
| South-west England and Wales | 9 February – 11 May | 12 May – 19 September |
| Midlands, northern England and Northern Ireland | 3 March – 2 June | 3 June – 2 September |
| Scotland | 13 March – 12 June | 13 June – 12 September |
| Ireland | 17 February – 19 May | 20 May – 10 September |
Growing
- Life cycle
- Annual (sown and in flower the same year)
- Family
- Linaceae
- Latin name
- Linum usitatissimum
- Cold tolerance
- Half-hardy (dislikes hard frost)
- Soil temperature to germinate
- 3 °C minimum
- Emergence
- 7–14 days
- Spacing
- 5–10 cm
Sources
- Orto Da Coltivare — Le consociazioni utili nell'orto
- Iowa State University Extension — Flax (alternative agriculture)
- Plantura — flower portraits and planting guides (Cosmea, Kornblume, Jungfer im Grünen, Mohnblume, Flachs, Goldlack, Vergissmeinnicht, Stockrose, Silberblatt, Bartnelke, Kokardenblume, Rittersporn, Akelei, Sonnenhut, Blumenzwiebeln, Tulpen, Gladiolen)
- Jardiner Malin — flower and bulb fiches (same species; the lin, bleuet and lavatère pages are seed product pages, and lin is red flax)
- RHS — Plant pages (hardiness ratings H1-H7)
- Ferme de Sainte Marthe — Lin bleu
- Promesse de Fleurs — advice pages (jacinthe read in full; the others through search-result summaries only, the pages return their navigation shell)