Reseda is a perennial plant. I’ve sown this one with my grandmother on 29.03.20. It still grows in the garden today (12.05.20), but rather small and puny. The location of it has turned out to be too shady due to a bush next to it with massive foliage.

However, here follows a description how you can start to grow Reseda very well (and avoid it from freezing as a young plant), just beware of finding a truly good spot for it that isn’t in direct sunlight the whole day.

In early spring, mix potting soil with sand and put it in two large pots (approximately 30cm in diameter). Press on the soil softly with the palm of your hands, then spread a pinch of seeds in each pot. Just do it as if you would be salting a dish, that works well! Afterwards, softly press down the seeds again with the palm of your hands. Place the pots in a box filled with water for around 15h, so the soil can fully soak up water. Leave the pots in the greenhouse and give water when the soil has dried out more than 2cm. Be careful with watering in the beginning, as the seeds are tiny and light. The water easily flushes them into one corner of the pot.

Leave the pots in the greenhouse at least until the plants have a diameter of 4cm to 7cm and you don’t expect more frost outside. Select the strongest ones and transfer them into smaller pots. For ideal growth after transferring the plants to bigger pots, place the pots in a box of water again and let the soil soak the water up for a few hours. Let them grow for a few weeks longer, either outside or in the greenhouse.

To pick a good definite location of Reseda in your garden you can place the little pots with the plants where you plan to put them into the soil. See over a few weeks how well they grow there under the light/shade condition.

When the plants are approximately 11cm in diameter, you can put them in your garden in a distance of 20cm from each other.