Snapdragon Seed Pack
Antirrhinum majus
Cottage-garden spires that dodge the rust disease.
1,000 seeds per pack · one-off purchase, no subscription
Buy now- 1,000 seeds, hand-packed in a labelled inner packet with a printed quick-start card
- Dispatched within 1–3 business days, tracked, to any UK address
- Germination guarantee: if they don't sprout, we send them again
Why grow it
- Autumn-sown plants get ahead of snapdragon rust — the fungal disease that disfigures spring sowings in warm, humid summer weather
- Earlier, taller, stronger flower spikes: overwintered snapdragons flower weeks before spring-sown ones
- The classic children's flower — squeeze the bloom and the dragon's mouth snaps — on proper cutting stems
When to sow
Sow September to October under cover (greenhouse, cold frame or bright windowsill).
| Scotland & the North | Sow September under cover — a bright windowsill or cold frame is enough |
|---|---|
| Midlands, Wales & Northern Ireland | Sow September to October under cover |
| South of England | Sow September to October under cover (mildest South West: a cold frame is ample) |
Growing questions
What cover do I need, exactly?
Nothing grand: a cold greenhouse, a cold frame, or a bright windowsill in an unheated room all work. The seedlings need frost kept off them and good light — not warmth. If you answered in the quiz that you have no cover at all, choose a direct-sow variety instead and grow snapdragons from a spring sowing.
How does autumn sowing avoid the rust?
Rust thrives in warm, humid summer weather and hits plants hardest in their soft, fast-growing stage. Overwintered plants pass through that stage in the cool of spring and do the bulk of their flowering earlier — so the disease pressure arrives after the show, not during it.
The seed is tiny — how do I handle it?
Surface-sow onto damp compost and don't cover it — snapdragon seed needs light to germinate. Press it gently into contact, keep it just moist, and prick the seedlings out into modules once they have true leaves. Slow and steady through winter is exactly right.
When do the plants go outside?
In early-to-mid spring, once they're hardened off — snapdragons are half-hardy as seedlings but the overwintered young plants are tough. They'll be flowering weeks ahead of anything sown in March.
