Growing Snapdragons: Tips at a Glance
Old-fashioned cottage flowers, snapdragons bloom in every color but blue and can be counted on for a long season of blooms. Snapdragons like full sun and 1 inch of water a week.
- Type Herbaceous flower
- Lifespan Annual or tender perennial
- USDA Zones 8-9
- Sun Full
- Water Moist soil
- When to Plant Early spring
- Design Tip Firecracker flowers
- Companions Roses, verbena
- Peak Season Summer
Snapdragons: A Field Guide
The individual flowers on a snapdragon’s stalk are each shaped like the head of a dragon, or so some people think. Even if you are in the camp which thinks the blossoms more resemble tiny bells, there’s no denying the charm of an old-fashioned nickname like snapdragon.
The quintessential cottage garden flower, Antirrhinum majus also makes a good cut flower for floral arrangements, thanks to its strong , tall stalk and clustered, colorful blossoms. Depending on variety, stalks may be as tall as 36 inches or as short as 8 (the tiniest cultivars were introduced in the 1930s and have been popular rock garden flowers ever since). Taller varieties will add color to the middle of the border, mingling well with Coneflowers, Verbena, and Scabiosa.
Snapdragons will probably behave like annuals in your garden, succumbing to wilt or mold if not to the cold temperatures in winter months. Though technically a tender perennial, snapdragons are unlikely to return next season–unless you sow new seeds or transplants more seedlings from the plant nursery.
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