Growing Phacelia (Lacy Phacelia): A Complete Profile
By Growing Home Greens Team · August 10, 2026
Phacelia, also called purple tansy or lacy phacelia, is grown less for cutting than for what it does in the garden: it’s an outstanding nectar source for honeybees and draws beneficial insects reliably wherever it’s planted.
Cool-soil germination
Direct-seeding is recommended, done as soon as the soil can be worked, sown thinly at about 6 seeds per foot and an eighth to a quarter inch deep. It germinates best in cool soil, so an early sowing works better than waiting for the ground to warm. Keep the soil surface moist until seedlings emerge. Make 2 to 3 successive sowings, 2 weeks apart, for continuous bloom through the season.
A working plant, not just a pretty one
Beyond its casual use as a cut flower, phacelia is planted as a border strip near vegetables that need pollinator visits, and it’s also used as a cover crop at higher seeding rates, adding organic matter and beneficial-insect habitat to a bed between plantings.
Harvest
For fresh cutting, harvest when the flowers are just beginning to open.
Phacelia has no recorded companions or antagonists in our data. See the full companion guide for phacelia for how it’s tracked. At 4 plants per square foot, it’s a good pollinator-support border in the Garden Designer, planted near pollinator-dependent crops like squash or cucumbers.
Source: Phacelia: Key Growing Information, Johnny’s Selected Seeds.
Companion planting guide for Phacelia (Lacy Phacelia) · Find your planting dates
Typically viable in USDA zones 2-11. Not sure your zone? Look it up by ZIP code.
Method: Direct sow: Direct-sow outside. Phacelia (Lacy Phacelia) doesn't transplant well, or doesn't need the extra time indoors.
See exact start-indoors, direct-sow, and harvest dates for your zone →
How many Phacelia (Lacy Phacelia) plants fit per square foot?
Spacing: 4 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing). Mature height: 2.5-3.5 ft.
Varieties worth considering
- Straight-species phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia): Johnny's Selected Seeds sells this species plain, marketed as a multipurpose flowering crop for pollinator support and cover cropping; there's no meaningful named-cultivar market for it. (source)
Cited from the source shown next to each variety. We haven't grown these ourselves yet, so treat this as a research-backed starting point, not a personal endorsement.
Where to buy phacelia seeds
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 genuine consensus of positive, independent reviews. See the sources cited on each item.
See it growing
Search YouTube for "growing phacelia (lacy phacelia)" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video; results vary and aren't vetted by us)
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Growing Phacelia (Lacy Phacelia): Grown less for cutting than for what it does in the garden: an outstanding nectar source for honeybees and a strong draw for beneficial insects.
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