Growing Cerinthe (Honeywort): A Complete Profile
By Growing Home Greens Team · August 10, 2026
Cerinthe, commonly called honeywort, doesn’t look like a typical cut flower. Its waxy, blue-purple bracts have an almost succulent texture, more sculptural than floral, which is exactly why it’s grown.
A patient, wide germination window
Transplanting is recommended, starting seed 6 weeks before your last frost, though direct-seeding after the last frost also works. Sow a quarter inch deep. Germination is unusually variable, taking anywhere from 5 to 21 days at 65-85°F, so don’t assume a slow tray has failed; give it the full window before troubleshooting. Space plants 12 to 18 inches apart.
A pollinator magnet
Cerinthe draws pollinators strongly, more than most ornamentals here, which makes it worth planting near vegetable crops that depend on pollinator visits rather than off in a purely decorative bed.
Harvest timing
Cut for a vase once the bracts have darkened to blue and the small tubular flowers have turned purple; picking earlier, while the bracts are still green, gives a shorter-lived stem.
Cerinthe has no well-established companion pairings, and nothing it needs to be kept away from. Its pollinator draw makes it a good fit tucked into the Garden Designer near pollinator-dependent vegetables like squash or cucumbers.
Source: Cerinthe: Key Growing Information, Johnny’s Selected Seeds.
Companion planting guide for Cerinthe (Honeywort) · Find your planting dates
Typically viable in USDA zones 2-11. Not sure your zone? Look it up by ZIP code.
Mature height: 1-2 ft
Method: Either: Start indoors for an earlier harvest, or direct-sow outside for less fuss. Either works.
When to plant cerinthe (honeywort), by zone
Every zone cerinthe (honeywort) grows in. Pick your zone in the header and it will be highlighted here. Each zone links to its full page.
| Zone | Start indoors | Sow or plant out | Bloom |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2a & 2b | Apr 8–Apr 15 | May 20–May 27 | Aug 3–Aug 10 |
| 3a & 3b | Apr 18–Apr 25 | May 30–Jun 6 | Aug 13–Aug 20 |
| 4a & 4b | Apr 3–Apr 10 | May 15–May 22 | Jul 29–Aug 5 |
| 5a & 5b | Mar 29–Apr 5 | May 10–May 17 | Jul 24–Jul 31 |
| 6a & 6b | Mar 14–Mar 21 | Apr 25–May 2 | Jul 9–Jul 16 |
| 7a & 7b | Feb 27–Mar 6 | Apr 10–Apr 17 | Jun 24–Jul 1 |
| 8a & 8b | Feb 11–Feb 18 | Mar 25–Apr 1 | Jun 8–Jun 15 |
| 9a & 9b | Jan 4–Jan 11 | Feb 15–Feb 22 | May 1–May 8 |
| 10a & 10b | Dec 19–Dec 26 | Jan 30–Feb 6 | Apr 15–Apr 22 |
| 11a & 11b | Nov 20–Nov 27 | Jan 1–Jan 8 | Mar 17–Mar 24 |
Bloom dates are about 75 days after the sow or plant-out date, not after starting seeds indoors.
Zone 2 sows before zone 3 here, which looks wrong and is not. USDA zones rank winter cold, not season length, and zone 2 is mostly interior Alaska, where hard winters come with warm summers. More on what a zone measures.
See exact start-indoors, direct-sow, and harvest dates for your zone →
How many Cerinthe (Honeywort) plants fit per square foot?
Spacing: 2 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing). Mature height: 1-2 ft.
Varieties worth considering
- Straight-species cerinthe (Cerinthe major): Johnny's Selected Seeds sells this species, sometimes in the 'Purpurascens' form with the deepest bract color; the growing requirements are the same either way, so the species itself covers what matters for care. (source)
Why each variety is listed comes from the source shown next to it. We haven't grown these ourselves yet, so treat this as a research-backed starting point, not a personal endorsement. The buy links are separate from those sources: they go to seed suppliers that sell that exact variety, and we may earn a commission on some of them.
Where to buy cerinthe seeds
None of the seed suppliers we list carries cerinthe seeds right now. A local garden center or a specialty seed house is the place to look.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Some links on this page also go to other retailers we may earn a commission from as an affiliate, at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products with a clear consensus of positive, independent reviews, or ones we bought and use ourselves. Each item on our gear page says which.
See it growing
Search YouTube for "growing cerinthe (honeywort)" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video; results vary and aren't vetted by us)
%3A%20Grown%20for%20its%20blue-purple%2C%20waxy%20bracts%20that%20look%20almost%20succulent%20rather%20than%20for%20a%20conventional%20petaled%20flower%2C%20and%20a%20strong%20pollinator%20draw.)
Pin this for later
Growing Cerinthe (Honeywort): Grown for its blue-purple, waxy bracts that look almost succulent rather than for a conventional petaled flower, and a strong pollinator draw.
Save to Pinterest