Cichorium intybus
Chicory
- Height × spread
- 1.2m × 0.6m
- Position
- Full sun
- Hardiness
- Cold to -15C (RHS H5)
- Flowers
- Summer
Availability
Please ask in store about availability
Many plants are seasonal. Call 01234 567890 to check current stock.
About this plant
This is the culinary chicory. It makes a very striking plant with big leaves that form a strong clump. Slender stems carry lovely, azure blue, rounded flowers, which close at lunchtime. When open, the blooms have a particularly clean pure colour, so it is worth going into the garden early when it is in season. It is possible to eat the roots: you have to lift them in autumn, and put them in sand or peat and keep them in the dark until they turn into elegant endives.
- Flower colour
- Blue
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Variegated
- No
- Scent
- No
- Shape
- Column
- Height
- 1.2m
- Spread
- 0.6m
- Season of interest
- Summer
- Flowers in
- Summer
- Evergreen
- Deciduous
- Garden style
- Cottage garden
- Sun or shade
- Likes full sun
- Soil type
- All types
- Soil pH
- All types
- Drainage
- Well drained soil
- Hardiness
- Cold to -15C (RHS H5)
- Borders & containers
- Borders
- Use for
- Bee attraction
- Hazards
- No
Spring
Spring - late · Outdoors
Feed with slow release fertiliser
Apply a general purpose slow release fertiliser, spreading it around the root area of the plant as it is coming into growth. (Or apply a liquid feed at regular intervals throughout the growing season.)
This is a simple way to provide a nutrient boost as a single annual procedure.
Spring-Autumn · Outdoors
Water during dry periods
For plants in the ground, when there has been little or no rain for a period of 7-10 days and the soil is dry, give it a deep watering and repeat weekly until there is a downpour of rain. Check plants in pots more frequently, especially in hot weather.