How to Grow Bishop's Flower From Seed

Sow Bishop's Flower where a spell of cool weather will get it started. In mild-winter areas, direct-sow in autumn for the earliest and strongest plants, which bloom the following late spring and early summer. In colder areas, sow in early spring as soon as the soil can be worked, or start a few weeks before your last frost. The young seedlings take light frost, and that cool start builds sturdier plants than a warm-weather sowing.

Bishop's Flower grows a taproot and resents transplanting, so sow it straight into a prepared, weed-free bed in full sun. The seeds need light to germinate: scatter them thinly on the surface, press them into firm contact with fine soil, and cover with no more than a light dusting. Keep the surface evenly moist at around 55 to 70F, and seedlings appear in about 10 to 21 days. Thin them to 8 to 12 inches apart so each plant has room and air moves through the stand.

Once up, Bishop's Flower is easy. Water when the top inch of soil dries, and go lighter on the nitrogen, since rich feeding pushes soft growth that flops. Plants reach three to four feet on slim stems, so set twiggy pea sticks or grow-through netting while they are still short, and grow them in a block so the stems brace each other. Good spacing and airflow keep powdery mildew down; watch for aphids and hose them off if they gather.

Bishop's Flower earns its place in a cutting bed, where its lacy white heads feed hoverflies and bees and set off bolder blooms. These four make strong partners for both the vase and the pollinators, and you can add any of them in one click:

This is a cut-and-come-again flower, so harvest often. Cut stems in the cool of the morning once about 80 percent of the tiny florets in a head have opened, and put them straight into water. Picked at that stage they hold up to about ten days in the vase, and every cut prompts new stems, stretching the flowering season from early summer into fall. To save your own seed, leave a few heads to dry on the plant, then shake the ripe seed into an envelope.

Bishop's Flower is grown for cutting. Its airy white umbels work as a soft filler that lightens tight arrangements, much like a refined Queen Anne's lace, and they hold well fresh or dried for everlasting bunches. In the garden the flat flower heads are a landing pad for bees, hoverflies, and other beneficial insects, so a patch doubles as pollinator habitat next to your vegetables.

• Poor or slow germination: the seeds need light, so sow on the surface, press them in, keep them moist, and give them 10 to 21 days.
• Flopping stems: tall plants topple in wind and rain. Add pea sticks or netting early and grow them in a block.
• Transplant shock: the taproot hates disturbance, so direct-sow, or move seedlings while very young from deep plugs.
• Powdery mildew: crowded, still air invites it. Thin to 8 to 12 inches and keep water off the foliage.