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Scientific: Matthiola incana
Common: stock
Family: Brassicaceae (formally Cruciferae)
Origin: Mediterranean

Pronounciation: Mat-THI-o-la in-CA-na

Hardiness zones
Sunset
8, 9, 12-24 as winter annual
USDA 9-11 as winter annual

Landscape Use: Mass color, bedding plant, cut flowers, fragrance gardens, edging plant.

Form & Character: Stiffly upright, old fashion garden plant, visually recessive except when in flower.

Growth Habit: Evergreen, herbaceous, short-lived perennial that can only be grown as a cool-season annual in Phoenix, upright, 12- to 36-inches tall depending on cultivar.

Foliage/Texture: Leaves tomentose, gray green, oblong and sessile to 4-inches long; medium texture.

Flowers & Fruits: Flowers single and double, white to lavender on terminal spikes, flowers are sweetly fragrant; fruit are an elongated narrow green capsule.

Seasonal Color: Floral accent during winter and spring in Phoenix.

Temperature: Cold hardy to 25oF, and grows best when air temperatures are between 40o and 80oF. In Phoenix, stock plants quickly fade when the weather warms in later spring and daytime temperatures are consistently above 95oF .

Light: Full sun

Soil: Prefers neutral to slightly alkaline (pH between 6.5 and 7.5), medium-textured, well-drained soils with organic amendments.

Watering: Regular watering best, will take some drought during the Phoenix cool season of winter.

Pruning: Very limited to none. If anything just remove spent bloom spikes to encourage continued flower development.

Propagation: Seed, 85% doubles and 15% singles.

Disease and Pests: Nematodes

Additional comments: Stock is a dependable, winter annual for Phoenix flower borders that was more popular last century than it is today. It is best used in mass plantings where individual plants are spaced at 8- to 18-inches apart depending on plant vigor.

Ethnobotanical and biomedical uses Stock flowers are edible and the seeds are said to be aphrodisiac. Stock shoots tissues are a source of secondary compounds with a multitude of anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, and anti-carcinogenic properties.