Ammi (Bishop's Flower)

How to grow Ammi (Bishop's Flower)

Ammi majus

🌸 Flower 🌱 Grown each year

Lacy white umbels like a refined cow parsley — a star of cut-flower gardens and loved by hoverflies.

At a glance: Sow mid March to mid May.

When to sow, plant and harvest

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Sow outdoors
Flowers

Timed for a typical UK garden (last frost mid-April). The app uses your own town's frost dates.

Growing Ammi (Bishop's Flower): what it needs

Light
Full sun · 6+ hours a day
Watering
Water in dry spells; pots daily in summer
Soil
Any well-drained soil
Spacing
30 cm
Height
1–1.2 m
In pots
Grows well in containers
Feeding
Liquid feed every two weeks once flowering starts
Hardiness
USDA zones 2–11
Difficulty
Easy

Step by step

  1. Mid March – mid May · 4 weeks before the last spring frost

    Sow Seeds Outdoors

    Sow thinly where they are to flower, in a sunny spot, into raked, weed-free soil.

  2. 14–21 days after “Sow Seeds Indoors” · Early April

    Check Germination

    Seedlings should appear in 14–21 days. Keep the soil moist. If sown outdoors, thin them to 30 cm apart once they have two true leaves.

  3. 14 days after “Plant Out” · Mid April

    Add Support

    Push in canes or twiggy sticks and tie in stems before they flop.

  4. 69–99 days after “Check Germination” · Early June – early July

    First Flowers — Deadhead Regularly

    Snip off faded flowers every few days to keep new ones coming for months. Take a photo for your journal!

  5. Mid October – early November · around the first autumn frost

    Clear or Collect Seed

    When frost blackens the plants, pull them up for the compost heap. Leave a few seedheads first if you want to save seed.

More flowers to grow

Photo: H. Zell / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)