I grow them and I am really fond of them.
I also have the white growing and the pink growing. They look nice with all three colors growing together.
I direct sowed mine in fall and they did great. Once you have them planted they reseed and come back on their own.

I have tried all the "Queen" colors and several other kinds of cleome as well. I love Violet Queen the best--just beautiful.

I've read Cleome can take moist soil. True?

Jen

Charinky- I'll have to try the other colors, I heard 'Helen Campbell' is a beautiful white. You are in Kentucky...when did your direct sowed seeds bloom? I'm afraid if I don't start them early indoors they won't bloom til very late in my zone 4 garden.

ginny12- Do you start yours indoors ahead of time, or direct sow? When do your's start blooming?

Jen- We've had LOTS and LOTS of rain here and they look beautiful...don't know how they would do in a permanently moist situation.

I start them inside and I found out something the hard way. They need cool temperatures to germinate. Here, we plant annuals out in late May. If I start them in April and it is warm and sunny on the windowsill, I don't get great results. Better to start in March when it is pretty chilly on the windowsill.

They can get leggy but I just plant them deep when it is time to go outdoors. They don't do much until it gets hot anyway. I would like to hear the results from someone who has wintersowed these as I have just learned of this technique.

I was real impressed with cleome serrulata 'rocky mtn. bee plant' I winter sowed mine and they did fine. I will definitely do that one next year. Cherry queen is a real nice one too.

Rocky Mtn. Bee Plant
{{gwi:18599}}

Ronnie, I too WS'd some Rocky Mtn. Bee Plant this year, should be blooming any day now. If you leave it be and let it self-seed it will come back again for you next year.

Nice photo!

Sharon

Maureen,
The white ones are new to me and yes they are beautiful.
I did direct sow them last fall and they have been blooming for about 3 weeks now.

I WS'ed both the tall Cleome and a shorter variety and they are blooming beautifully.

Since I just got a photobucket account and am learning how to post pics, I'll try to post a pic of my cleome with other flowers: {{gwi:18600}}

A panoply of purples! Love it!

Beautiful Maureen. Save some of those seeds!!! I'll trade ya!!

What is the purple stuff on top of the rocks?? Soo pretty.

Looks like celosia to me.

The purple stuff on top of the stone wall is Dragon's Blood Sedum. It's a great plant..

Spectacular color combination!

I have the Cherry Queen but I really like color of the Violet.

I just saw the Dragon's Blood Sedum in Costco yesterday.

When I read about the plant in catalogs they say the flowers are "red" but yours have a much softer, deeply mauve/rose color that's gorgeous.

Your picture looks like an upstate vacation spot.

Thanks for sharing.

I am growing the pink ones, and they self-seeded with a vengeance from the three little seedlings I planted last year. I probably pulled up a couple of hundred seedings from that 'sowing" this year, but they pull up easily.

My DH claims to hate pink, but he has repeatedly said these are the prettiest flowers he has ever seen.

I love your purple ones, and I know I'll have to have some of those seeds next year. Heck, as fast as they grow, I may throw some out this year.

Thank you so much for the picture. I love pinks and purples in my garden, and I wouldn't have planted them if I hadn't seen your picture.

Kay