While I appreciate specimen blooms, I’m captured by the smallest of flowers - charmed by the combination of subtle qualities. ‘White Mignonette’ has many of those.

Small, fringed white flowers with a sweet, spicy scent are densely packed on semi tall, upright spires. I love the graceful slightly arching quality of the spikes which required no staking and the small florets which spiral around them. The vanilla, violet like scent filled the area and beneficial insects were attracted to it - especially pollen gatherers who hoarded the orange floret centers. The light green little seed pod which hang like small lanterns after the bloom fades add a wonderful colour and visual interest to a bouquet.

‘White Mignonette’ is an easy to grow scented addition for bouquets and cottage gardens. It can be direct sown by scratching it into moist soil or sown into punnets and transplanted. And it thrived from late Spring through Autumn. You can resow it if you would like to heavily cut it for floral work or just enjoy its long season in the garden. It does self sow easily and we found it re-sowing itself at least once in the season when stalks were left to develop mature seed which fell out of the seed pouches just with wind.

In the garden, I have tucked it in near bronze fennel, orach and amaranth, loving how the glowing spires contrast with the colored foliage. I included an assortment of cosmos and zinnias that are easily direct sown and add to the cottage garden feel - a bouquet in a metre square.

This is a plant of lore and legend. According to a French fairy tale, mignonette was so named by a young girl who was bewailing her homely appearance. A fairy appeared in the form of an old woman and asked the girl why she was crying. The girl told her that she longed to be beautiful so everyone would love her, and the fairy replied, “If you will do just as I tell you for one year, your wish will be granted. Go out into the world, and never let an hour pass without doing something to make someone happier, and do not look into a mirror until I come again.” When the fairy disappeared, she left a little mignonette plant in a flowerpot. The girl exclaimed, “Oh! The little darling!” and tended to it carefully. She did as the fairy told her and became so interested in helping people that she didn’t even think to look in a mirror. A year passed quickly, and when the fairy returned, she held up a mirror, saying, “Look.” The girl was amazed when she saw her reflection. Her eyes, once dim with crying, were bright and clear, her cheeks were rosy, and the whole expression of her face was changed. Then, the fairy said to her, “You have filled your heart with such beautiful thoughts and your life with such beautiful deeds that a beautiful soul shines in your face. Your wish is granted, and like the flower I left, you will create a sweet atmosphere about you wherever you go.”

And there are tales of Napoleon gifting seeds and maidens who received engagements simply through gifting mignonette to a count as well as many versus of prose inspired by the grace of mignonette. As Joanna Ridenour stated in her article about White Mignonette in Mother Earth Gardener, “Any flower that can inspire a century of praise is worth preserving!”

This is a great addition to a cutting garden with a vase life of 5-7 days and can be dried, retaining its fragrance.