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 well-established companion pairings, and nothing it needs to be kept away from. 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.
Mature height: 2.5-3.5 ft
Method: Direct sow: Direct-sow outside. It doesn't transplant well, or doesn't need the extra time indoors.
When to plant phacelia (lacy phacelia), by zone
Every zone phacelia (lacy phacelia) 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 | Not usually | Apr 29–May 6 | Jul 8–Jul 15 |
| 3a & 3b | Not usually | May 9–May 16 | Jul 18–Jul 25 |
| 4a & 4b | Not usually | Apr 24–May 1 | Jul 3–Jul 10 |
| 5a & 5b | Not usually | Apr 19–Apr 26 | Jun 28–Jul 5 |
| 6a & 6b | Not usually | Apr 4–Apr 11 | Jun 13–Jun 20 |
| 7a & 7b | Not usually | Mar 20–Mar 27 | May 29–Jun 5 |
| 8a & 8b | Not usually | Mar 4–Mar 11 | May 13–May 20 |
| 9a & 9b | Not usually | Jan 25–Feb 1 | Apr 5–Apr 12 |
| 10a & 10b | Not usually | Jan 9–Jan 16 | Mar 20–Mar 27 |
| 11a & 11b | Not usually | Dec 11–Dec 18 | Feb 19–Feb 26 |
Bloom dates are about 70 days after the sow or plant-out date.
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 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)
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 phacelia seeds
True Leaf Market · High Mowing Organic Seeds (each supplier's phacelia seeds)
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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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