Name: Bracteantha bracteatum Granvia Gold
Type of Plant: An annual strawflower for full sun. Perfect in containers or in the ground.
Why I Love/Hate this plant: Where to start with this cheerful annual? First of all, it’s quite vigorous. I knew this right away this spring because this plant came to me in the mail from the Suntory Flowers company, and it wasn’t happy about being sent in a dark box. Yet as soon as I planted it in a larger pot with fresh soil, and gave it a boost of fertilizer, this strawflower perked up quickly and there was no stopping it from constant blooming from late-May on.
The stems on Granvia Gold strawflowers are sturdy and upright. The flowers never bent over in hard rain or broke in our Cape Cod sea-breezes. I grew this annual in a pot and it is now, in mid-September, about 20” tall and wide. As the flowers have faded in the summer I have clipped those off, mainly so that any browned blooms didn’t detract from the endless supply of sunny, yellow flowers.
I have loved picking these blossoms for my bottle-displays of cutting flowers above my kitchen sink. And because they are strawflowers, they last a long time in a vase.
I’ll watch for these next year because I’d love to plant large groups of this annual in the front of some of my full-sun flower gardens.
A Word to the Wise: Grow strawflowers where the soil is well drained, and don’t keep the ground constantly wet. In other words, water deeply but less often, not every day if the plants are in the ground. In containers, water when the potting mix is dry. I planted these with some time-release fertilizer and I’d advise those growing it in pots or gardens to do the same.
My review of Bracteantha bracteatum Granvia Gold in a few words: the best strawflower I’ve ever grown.
Here is this strawflower in early July. From mid-June on I have been cutting flowers to bring indoors, or include in small give-away-bouquets.I grew it in a pot with other annuals, but it’s so vigorous that I look forward to planting Granvia in the garden next year.
In August Granvia was a flower power machine! Constant blooms!
See the strawflower on the left side? It’s lasted in this cut-flower display for two weeks!
These are true straw flowers – they last for weeks once picked.
Thank you! We love these flowers too! They are a perfect summer/fall flower and plant.
Glad you are enjoying Granvia! Thanks for the blog post.
We grow a strawflower mix and cut before they are full open. we gather and tie a bouquet then hang inverted for several weeks until the stems are stiff and dry. They last all winter long in vases around the house and retain their lovely color, even when dried.