How to Grow Statice in Australia

Statice (Limonium sinuatum) belongs to the leadwort family, Plumbaginaceae. Gardeners grow it for sprays of papery flowers that hold up in a vase and dry without losing their colour. That colour lives in the cup-shaped calyx around each tiny flower, which is why it lasts. Statice copes with sandy, dry and even salty coastal ground, and most failures come from kindness: rich soil and too much water.

Three mistakes that matter

1. Keeping the roots wet. Heavy clay or daily watering rots the crown and roots, and the plant yellows, wilts and falls over. Plant into light, free-draining soil, and water only once the soil has dried about 10 cm down.
2. Sowing into summer heat. Late spring sowings in the warmer zones reach flowering in heat and humidity, which statice struggles with. Sow as the heat breaks in autumn instead, using the months under When to plant.
3. Drying bunches in a damp room. Moist air in a laundry, bathroom or kitchen slows drying, and heads that stay damp for days can go mouldy. Choose a dark, dry, airy room, as set out in Harvesting and Drying Blooms.

When to plant

Seedlings appear 7 to 14 days after sowing at 20 to 24°C, so sow while autumn soil still holds its warmth. Young plants that then spend a few weeks at about 10 to 13°C come into flower sooner. Every zone has an autumn window, and in the south Anzac Day lands inside it.

Sowing at the hot start of a window? Use trays in light shade and move the seedlings out once the days turn mild. Where frost arrives early, sow in the first weeks of autumn so plants have size before it bites.

Site, soil and setup

Statice wants a bed in full sun for 6 hours or more a day, in light sandy or loamy soil that drains fast. Acid, neutral and alkaline soils all suit it, and it tolerates salt, so coastal gardens suit it too.

Container growing

Pick a pot with drainage holes and room for at least 10 L of mix; a 30 cm pot takes roughly 13.5 L. The compact 'Petite Bouquet' is the mix to choose for pots. Potting mix can carry Legionella bacteria, so dampen it before opening the bag, put on gloves and a dust mask, and wash your hands afterwards.

• Watering: once the top few centimetres feel dry, water until it drains from the holes, then leave it.
• Feeding: potted plants use up their food faster than those in the ground. From the time flower stems appear, feed with fish and seaweed blend, 25 mL per 9 L, each fortnight.
• Position: full sun, with the pot up on feet so the base drains freely.

Sowing Seeds

Direct sowing gives the best results, though seed started in trays is ready to plant out in 4 to 6 weeks. No soaking or other seed treatment is needed.

Sowing direct

• Rake the soil fine and level, then sow 5 mm deep.
• Settle the seed with a gentle spray and keep the surface moist but not wet until seedlings emerge, 7 to 14 days later.
• When the seedlings can be held between finger and thumb, thin them to one every 30 to 40 cm.

Starting in trays

• Fill cells or punnets with seed raising mix and sow 5 mm deep.
• Give the trays your brightest spot from the day shoots appear, so the seedlings grow short and stocky.
• Harden off the seedlings (leave them outdoors a little longer each day for one to two weeks, until they cope with sun and wind).
• At 4 to 6 weeks, plant each seedling a touch higher than the soil around it so water runs off the crown. Settle them in with seaweed solution at half strength, 15 mL per 9 L.

Both mixes are grown the same way; height decides where each one goes.

Care by growth stage

Once its roots are down, statice shrugs off dry spells and needs little food in a bed that had compost. Deep, occasional watering at the roots matters more than anything else.

If plants sit still in thin, hungry sand, scratch in a little all-purpose controlled release granular (NPK around 14-5-10) at the label rate.

Deadheading

Picking for the house does most of this job. Heads left to brown on the plant can set seed, which may shorten the plant's life and lets it spread.

• Weekly while flowering: cut stems for vases or drying.
• Faded heads: take the whole stem off low, just above the leaves.
• Yellowing lower leaves: snip them off so air reaches the crown.
• Close to bushland: remove all heads before they set seed, for the reason given in Tips.
• When flowering ends: lift the old plants and add them to the compost.

Companion planting

A lean, sunny cutting bed suits statice best, shared with flowers that also like to go without.

Grows well with

• Everlasting daisies: a second papery flower for drying, suited to the same lean, free-draining soil.
• Cornflowers: an autumn sowing partner that also wants light soil, sun and little feeding.
• Lavender: asks for very little water once settled, so one watering routine suits both.
• Beside the vegie patch: a row of statice brings bees and other pollinators to nearby crops.

Keep apart

• Zucchini and other hungry, thirsty crops: their frequent watering and rich feeding would rot statice roots.
• Sunflowers: on the north side, a tall row can shade low statice for much of the day.

Harvesting and Drying Blooms

A stem is ready once every cup-shaped calyx on it has opened and coloured.

• Pick when flowers and stems are dry, never wet with dew or rain.
• Cut right down at the base for the longest stem.
• Pull off the leaves and the leafy wings on the stem, which shorten vase life.
• For the vase, put stems into clean water at once; they often last 1 to 2 weeks.
• For drying, bundle a few stems together with a rubber band.

Hang the bundles head down somewhere dark, dry and airy, such as a shed or spare room, for 2 to 3 weeks until completely dry. The small cream petals fall as they dry, while the coloured calyces stay. Dried stems suit wreaths and winter bouquets, kept away from damp air.

Common problems

Nothing comes up. The usual causes are seed sown deeper than 5 mm, a seedbed allowed to dry, or soil too cold. Read more

Tall, floppy seedlings in trays. They are reaching for light, which happens on a dim windowsill or in a room kept too warm after the seed comes up. Read more

Plants collapse at soil level. Crown and root rot follow wet, heavy soil; see the first of the Three mistakes that matter.

Leaves turn red in winter. Cold weather builds up a red pigment in the leaves, and they usually turn green again once it warms up.

Pests and diseases

Most trouble comes in wet weather or from sap-suckers, and a dry, airy bed prevents much of it.

Western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis). These tiny insects mark flowers and spread tomato spotted wilt virus, which often causes heavy losses in statice. Infected leaves show ringspots, mottling and line patterns. Bin any plant with those signs rather than composting it, and keep weeds down around the bed. Read more

Grey mould (Botrytis cinerea). In cool, damp weather the flower clusters brown and collapse, sometimes under a grey fuzz. Cut out affected stems, water at soil level and give plants their full spacing.

Cercospora leaf spot (Cercospora apii). This leaf-spotting fungus has been recorded on statice in Australia. Pick off spotted leaves and keep water off the foliage.

Aphids (family Aphididae). Colonies gather on soft new growth and coat it in sticky honeydew. Blast them off with the hose, or treat the undersides of leaves with insecticidal soap. Read more

Garden snail (Cornu aspersum). On damp nights snails can chew seedlings to the ground, leaving slime trails behind. Hunt them by torchlight a couple of hours after dark, and sink a beer trap or two among the seedlings. Read more

Prevention first

• Space plants 30 to 40 cm apart so air moves between them.
• Water early in the day, at soil level.
• Pull weeds around the bed, because thrips and the virus they carry build up on them.
• Look over young shoots and flower clusters weekly from the first stems.

Tips

1. Start a second batch of seed about a month after the first to stretch the picking season.
2. Where a plant lives into a second year, cut it back to just above the ground in late autumn, or trim dead leaves in spring.
3. Statice has gone wild on dry, sandy roadsides in several states, including the warmer districts of northern Victoria. Check with your council before letting any heads ripen.