Information on Matthiola
By Dvorah
Suffolk,
United Kingdom 
I have some Matthiola, white flowers, very scented, very woody stems. Have grown successfully from seed in shed but a cat now lives in my shed so can't use it for growing seeds any more. Am disabled with illness M.E. which affects memory and brain function. Think my plants are M.Incana? They have very thick woody stems; 2 plants grown from seed flowered in first year and have flowered again this year, though some died. Are they biennials or can they be perennials? I cut down a woody stem and it has produced a shoot. Will that flower next year?
24 May, 2009
matthiola incana is usually grown as a half hardy annual, or in the case of Brompton Stocks (also, confusingly, m. incana!) as biennials. That said, however, the ones you've got may or may not flower again, who knows. I've got petunias on my balcony which are five years old, dying back in the winter and reappearing in the late spring, and I leave them out all winter, and in theory, that's not supposed to happen ...
25 May, 2009