Plant record
Stock
Matthiola incana
Stock is a cool-spring luxury. It earns a square by making the whole bed smell more alive.
Garden timing
Start indoors 8 to 12 weeks before last frost for spring bloom.
Transplant early into cool, settled weather.
Plant intelligence
Use one square early, before warm-season crops need the room.
cut flowerpollinator
Lifecycle: annual
Habit: cool-season fragrant spike flower
Height: 12-30 inches
Spread: 8-12 inches
Germination: 7-14 days
Sow depth: 0.125 inches
Bloom: spring, early summer
Attracts: bees
Record score
89/100deep plant record
Taxonomy confidence94Matthiola incana in Brassicaceae; 2 cached source references.
Square-foot usefulness861 per square with none support.
Timing and care depth922 planting windows, 45F minimum soil, 2 cautions.
Species and variety drill-down882 variety or cultivar options attached.
Annual flower intelligence90moderate pollinator value.
Source readiness82Ready for 4 external lookup paths.
Species identity
This record is anchored to a stable botanical name, then adjusted for square-foot garden decisions.
ScientificMatthiola incanaFamilyBrassicaceaeLookup namesStock, Matthiola incana, gillyflower, ten-week stock
Garden decision matrix
Square-foot fit1 per square
Season behaviorsemi-hardy
Care loadsteady water
Bed ecosystem rolecut flower, pollinator
Variety depth2 options
Species and variety notes
Column types make cleaner cuts; dwarf bedding types are less useful in a food garden.
Katzseries
84small-bed fit
A florist-style series for deliberate spring cutting.
Best use: cut and garden display. Tradeoff: match timing and spacing to the rest of the bed.
cut flower, fragrant, single stem90-110 days24-30 inches tallVintageseries
70small-bed fit
A better choice when the bed wants fragrance and a less formal habit.
Best use: cut and garden display. Tradeoff: match timing and spacing to the rest of the bed.
branching, fragrant, garden bed90-105 days16-22 inches tallCompanions
snapdragon, lettuce, onion, sweet-alyssum
Cautions
Heat ends the show quickly.
Needs early timing to be worth the space.
External enrichment
Cached name: Matthiola incana. Optional lookups can compare GBIF, iNaturalist, Perenual, and Trefle without changing the reviewed garden record.
Open enrichment JSONData layers
FVF reviewed cachecachedSpacing, timing, variety, companion, and FVF notes used by the planner.
GBIF and iNaturalistlive no-keyNo-key taxonomy, common-name, and community context checks through the enrichment route.
USDA PLANTS downloadsreferencePeriodic identity, distribution, native status, and conservation reference layer.
Perenual or Trefleoptional keyOptional species images, care data, cultivar/synonym cleanup, then cache only reviewed fields.
API source score
Perenual API88/100optional key: Flower and ornamental drill-down, plant photos, care flags, toxicity, bloom data. Limit: Requires an API key and plan-aware caching, so it should enrich records without blocking the app.
Trefle API84/100optional key: Scientific names, subspecies, varieties, hybrids, synonyms, and broader botanical cleanup. Limit: Requires a token and should be treated as a reviewed import layer, not a live page dependency.
USDA PLANTS downloads82/100download cache: Standard names, plant symbols, distribution, native status, and conservation flags. Limit: Best consumed as periodic downloaded data instead of one-off runtime requests.
GBIF Species API78/100live public: Accepted scientific names, synonyms, family/genus cleanup, and occurrence context. Limit: Not a gardening advice source; pair it with local square-foot growing data.
iNaturalist taxa API72/100live public: Common-name discovery, taxon IDs, and regional biodiversity context. Limit: Observation data is not the same thing as garden suitability or crop timing.
USDA PLANTS Database
Plant identity, taxonomy, nativity, and conservation flags.
Source referenceGBIF Species API
Accepted scientific names, taxonomy matching, and occurrence context.
Source reference