How to Grow Cleome

Cleome (also called spider flower) is remarkably easy to grow. Here are tips to get started with this dramatic flower.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• cleome seeds (or)
• cleome plants (or)
• a friend with a cleome plant

1. 
    

   When you admire someone's cleome flowers, they often offer to give you seeds. The flowers are pink or white or purple usually. Each flower cluster tops a long stalk and seed pods hang down under the flower.

2. If the seed pods are turning brown, just squeeze them slightly and they pop open. The tiny black seeds spill out into your hand or into an envelope. These are annual plants, but they scatter their seeds in the flower bed, then come up the next year from seed. You can keep the seeds in a ziplock baggie.

3. Planting the seeds is easy, just find a space at the back of the flower bed as it will tower over the other plants. The plant can grow 5 feet tall. It prefers full sun and good soil.

4. Loosen the soil, sprinkle the seeds on top. Smooth your hands over the seeds and soil to mix them slightly. Water lightly, so you don't wash away the seeds. Like most seeds, it helps to keep the soil moist until they germinate (10 to 15 days).

5. Sometimes they get too tall and bend over. To prevent this, nip the plant in the center after it's a few feet tall. This will encourage it to branch out and not get so tall.

Tips & Warnings

• You can also purchase cleome as a plant. Just plant it and water regularly.
• If you get too many cleome coming up from last year's seeds, just pull the extra ones or put them in small pots to give to friends.

[acole]

on 6/9/2008 Great. Thanks!