Stock ‘Dwarf Ten Week Mix’, Matthiola incana, is a beautiful old-fashioned flowering annual grown for its wonderfully fragrant blooms and compact growth. It produces dense flower spikes in a lovely mixture of colours that may include pink, rose, red, purple, lavender, lilac, cream and white. Many plants produce gorgeous double flowers packed with softly ruffled petals, while others may produce elegant single blooms.

Stocks have been treasured in gardens for centuries, particularly for their fragrance. Matthiola incana is native to the Mediterranean region and southern Europe, where wild forms naturally grow around coastal areas and rocky slopes. It was introduced into cultivation in Europe hundreds of years ago and became especially fashionable in British and European gardens.

The name Matthiola honours Pietro Andrea Mattioli, a 16th-century Italian physician and botanist who wrote extensively about medicinal and useful plants.

By the Victorian era, stocks had become enormously popular. Plant breeders selected them for increasingly large flowers, stronger fragrance, double blooms and a wonderful range of colours. They became favourites in cottage gardens and were widely grown as cut flowers because their fragrance could fill an entire room.

Dwarf Ten Week Mix belongs to the group traditionally known as Ten Week Stocks. These were bred to grow and flower relatively quickly from seed rather than requiring a long growing period. The “ten week” name refers to their reputation for being able to begin flowering roughly ten weeks after sowing under favourable conditions, although actual flowering time will naturally vary with temperature, season and growing conditions.

The dwarf form was selected to produce shorter, more compact plants than traditional tall stocks. Plants generally reach approximately 25–40 cm tall, making them particularly useful for the front of flower beds, pathways, cottage gardens, pots and containers.

Their compact size also makes them wonderful for mass planting. A group of Dwarf Ten Week Stocks in mixed colours can create a beautiful carpet of pastel and jewel-toned flowers while releasing that unmistakable sweet perfume into the garden.

The fragrance is one of the greatest reasons to grow them. Stock flowers have a rich, sweet, slightly spicy scent that becomes particularly noticeable when several plants are flowering together. Planting them near a doorway, verandah, garden seat or pathway allows their fragrance to be enjoyed every time you pass.

The flowers are also excellent for cutting. Even the shorter Dwarf Ten Week varieties can make lovely little posies, and bringing a few stems indoors provides both colour and fragrance.

Stocks are grown as ornamental plants rather than as food crops, so they don’t have a nutritional role in the garden. Their flowers are, however, useful to wildlife and can attract bees, butterflies and other beneficial pollinating insects.

An interesting feature of stocks is their double flowers. Double-flowered plants are highly prized because their blooms are incredibly full and decorative, but fully double flowers are generally sterile and cannot produce seed. Seed therefore comes from the single-flowered plants that carry the genetic potential to produce double-flowered offspring.

This means a packet of Dwarf Ten Week Mix may produce both single and double flowers. Rather than being a problem, the combination creates a lovely natural display, with the single flowers also being particularly useful to pollinating insects because their reproductive parts are easier to reach.

Stocks prefer cool to mild growing conditions and generally perform best during autumn, winter and spring in much of Australia. In colder regions they are also excellent spring and early summer flowers.

They enjoy full sun, although some afternoon shade can be beneficial in warmer climates. Fertile, well-drained soil and regular watering will produce the strongest plants and best flowering display.

Stocks dislike prolonged hot, humid weather and waterlogged soil. Good airflow around the plants and watering at soil level rather than continually wetting the foliage will help keep them healthy.

Removing faded flower spikes helps keep plants tidy and can prolong the display. However, if you would like plants to produce seed, leave some of the single-flowered stems to mature naturally.

How to Grow From Seed:

Sow Dwarf Ten Week Stock seeds during autumn or early spring, depending on your climate. In warmer Australian areas, autumn sowing is particularly useful because the plants can grow and flower during the cooler months.

Sow seeds approximately 3–5 mm deep into moist, fine seed-raising mix or directly into well-prepared garden soil. Cover very lightly and keep the soil consistently moist but not waterlogged.

Stocks prefer relatively cool conditions for germination. Temperatures around 15–20°C are ideal, with seedlings generally appearing within approximately 7–14 days.

Once seedlings have developed several true leaves and are large enough to handle, transplant or thin them carefully.

Space plants approximately 15–25 cm apart. This provides enough room for each plant to develop while still allowing them to create a lovely massed display when grown together.

Choose a sunny to partly shaded position with fertile, well-drained soil. Water regularly while the plants establish, but avoid keeping their roots permanently wet.

A light application of fertiliser suitable for flowering plants can encourage healthy growth and plenty of blooms, but avoid excessive feeding with nitrogen, which can encourage leafy growth instead of flowers.

For a longer flowering season, sow several small batches a few weeks apart rather than planting all the seeds at once.

Once flowering begins, Dwarf Ten Week Mix becomes one of those plants that earns its garden space twice – first with its beautiful mixture of soft, ruffled flowers and then all over again with that gorgeous old-fashioned stock fragrance.