Bucket of gorgeous lisianthus from our flower farm in 2022. Varieties include: Voyage 2 Champagne Lisianthus, Voyage 2 White Lisianthus, Celeb Wine Lisianthus, Doublini Pink Lisianthus, Voyage 2 Apricot Lisianthus.

Updated February 13, 2024

Lisianthus is a flower I’ve fully leaned into as a cut flower farmer and wedding florist… Lisianthus is unique enough that you can’t find it at a typical grocery store and it fulfills that need for exquisite blooms for wedding work. Growing beautiful lisianthus has allowed me to stop buying imported roses for wedding work so now we are able to use all of our own fully sustainable flowers for weddings!

Lisianthus seems to cause a lot of confusion for growers… it takes forever to grow from seed, they say it grows best under a high tunnel, and timing field plantings can be tricky. I hope my experiences growing lisianthus in the field will help you along the way.

First, I’ll discuss whether growing lisianthus from seed is worth it, and my favorite lisianthus varieties I’ve grown on the flower farm.

should you buy lisianthus plugs or grow lisianthus from seed?

On our farm, we plant Lisianthus plugs that we order online from Farmer Bailey. In the beginning, I did give it a whirl and tried to grow my own lisianthus. It took a lot of time and was mostly a failure, so I’ve since decided that buying plugs is a safer bet in making sure I have the amount of plants needed.

Lisianthus is one of the more difficult flowers to start from seed (although I do know a few people who have no problems whatsoever growing lisianthus from seed, and there are many farmers I don’t know that grow it from seed successfully). Me, though, nope. In 2020, I attempted to grow 600 Lisianthus starts and I killed 75% of the plants from seed to harvest, due to various reasons, mostly due to overwatering AND drying out. After that, I swallowed my fear of spending all that money on lisianthus plugs and it was wonderful because I actually got the harvest I needed and made more money than I ever would have from my own failed crop.

The benefits of ordering lisianthus plugs vs. growing lisianthus from seed:

When you order lisianthus plugs, you know exactly the amount of plants that will go in the ground
- When you start your own lisianthus plants, there is a good chance you’ll kill some. Those lost plants are lost stems, and those lost stems are lost dollars. Lisianthus catches a fine price on the retail and wholesale market, so every plant counts.
Ordering plugs frees up all that extra time needed to grow lisianthus from seed (which need to be started 5-6 months before planting… so, in December, when I’m just trying to enjoy my life and survive the holidays)
- If you look forward to babying lisianthus plants for 6+ months, then by all means, give it a go!
Ordering plugs allows me to go on vacation in the early Spring
- This is trivial, but vacation is an important part of my work-life balance and I am not willing to sacrifice it for starting seeds. If I have lisianthus plants growing during vacation time, what am I even doing?
Ordering plugs takes the pressure off producing one of the most important crops in the field
- As a wedding florist and grower for other wedding florists, I really need lisianthus to do well. Ordering plugs takes that pressure off.

the downside of ordering lisianthus plugs

There is one downside to ordering plugs, and that would be when plugs are shipped with diseases. This has not happened to me yet, but Fusarium, a soil-borne fungus, is a big problem for lisianthus. It is important to inspect your plug trays and use proper bio-fungicides, such as Root Shield and Actinovate, before planting out. If you notice diseased-looking plants, pull them from your field and throw them away immediately (not in the compost pile). Finally, you’ll want to report it back to your plug supplier so they’re aware of the disease — take pictures and send it to them!

I suppose the only other downside is the initial cost of ordering plugs, and paying for shipping; however, if you can successfully grow the plants out in the field, they will increase your profits. One way to save money on lisianthus plugs is to order a 288 tray for early shipping and pot up those tiny lisianthus plants into 50-cell trays. Potting up these tiny plants about four weeks in advance of planting will allow you to have so many more plants for less cost — although you must consider the labor involved in keeping the lisianthus plants happy in their bigger cells.

how to prevent fusarium wilt on lisianthus plugs

Fusarium is a soil-borne fungus that causes extreme wilting, yellowing and eventual death to lisianthus (and many other plants in the field). I take preventative action to make sure fusarium does not end up in my field, should it be shipped with the lisianthus plugs. To help prevent fusarium from spreading, we soak lisianthus plug trays in Root Shield upon arrival, then re-soak the trays in Actinovate right before transplanting. These two bio-fungicides must be replaced every year for viability. We use a concrete mixing tub to soak the trays in — this is the same tray we use to bottom-water the seedlings we grow ourselves.

favorite lisianthus varieties to grow on the flower farm

I’ve grown lisianthus for five years now and have trialed many varieties. My favorite varieties I come back to every year are:

Voyage 2 White, Champagne, Light Apricot, Pink (ruffles to die for)
Corelli 3 Light Pink (the perfect pale blush)
Celeb Wine (unique pink-purple mauve color)
Chateau Blue (the most beautiful pale vintage purple)

The lisianthus numbers (0-4) refer to bloom groups, based on an incredibly complex amount of factors in the breeding and cultivation of the varieties. To make it simple when choosing varieties, I just mix 2’s and 3’s. The 3’s bloom later than the 2’s, so you can be sure to have a long blooming period of lisianthus. This is for my zone 6b where my growing season is mainly May thru October, so you might want to consider other bloom groups depending on your climate.

[Richters Herbs is our favorite herb plug supplier for many herbs we use as cut flowers!]

How we plant Lisianthus Plugs on Our Flower Farm

when to plant lisianthus out in the field

Lisianthus is a hardy annual flower and it can be planted out earlier than you’d think. Hardy to mid-20s degrees F, we plant our Lisianthus in the FIELD in the beginning of May in Zone 6b. You can plan to plant yours 4 weeks before your last frost date, although if you plan to use row cover, you can stretch that planting date earlier (scroll for more thoughts on using row cover).

Of course, some Springs are chillier than others. In 2021, I had to wait to plant out until May 1st because it was still so cold outside, and after receiving over 1,000 Lisianthus plugs in the mail from Farmer Bailey, I had to pot all of them up into 4-packs to prevent root distress. The potting up worked splendidly and the plugs got quite large in their 4-packs. I chose to pot up into 4-packs simply because I had a bunch available on hand, but a 50-cell tray would have worked well, too.

Using row cover on lisianthus in the field

You could plant Lisianthus even earlier if you use row cover out in the field. Typically you’ll want to have plants uncovered during the early part of the day to allow airflow and prevent the plants from suffering from too much trapped heat. When the nights dip below freezing you’ll want to add the row cover back onto the plants in mid-afternoon to trap heat and leave on all night. This dance with the row cover will need to happen everyday to maintain good growing conditions for the lisianthus.

prepping soil before planting lisianthus

Before planting, our beds are prepared using no-till method of layering leaf mulch, alfalfa pellets and a thin layer of compost. The beds are lined with drip tape and covered with Dewitt landscape fabric with planting holes burned into it using a Mag Torch with this propane fuel. I will say that the Mag torch is a MUCH better tool than the Bernzomatic brand from personal experience. The Mag torch costs more, but it actually works and won’t break after a few uses.

should you plant lisianthus in landscape fabric?

Since originally writing this post, I no longer plant Lisianthus in landscape fabric. I unfortunately had lost 25% of my lisianthus crop because the fabric got so hot and dried out the layer of compost underneath. Subsequently, the plants dried out too. Be careful when using compost on lisianthus beds. Compost tends to dry out quickly when layered on top and if the compost layer is too deep, lisianthus will dry up with it. In 2022, I added a very thin layer of compost, rather than a thick one, without landscape fabric. Weeding was annoying, but none of the plants died!

LISIANTHUS PLUG Planting SUPPLIES LIST

Lisianthus Plugs (we use 128-size plugs that we order from Farmer Bailey)
Butter Knife
Dibber
Mycorrhizal Fungi Inoculant

LISIANTHUS PLUG Planting Process

These planting instructions are exactly the same for all annuals on our flower farm (except for spacing).

First, remove the plants from their plug cells using a plain old butter knife from the kitchen drawer. Some plants will be large enough for you to gently pull out with your fingers, but whenever I do that I inevitably break a few plants. Use the butter knife! The knife also gently breaks the root ball apart on one side of the plant which removes you of the step of having to do that with your fingers.

With each plant I remove from the cells, I add the plants to a bucket of Mycorrhizal Fungi Inoculant to coat the root ball. If you’re not familiar with Mycorrhizae or why it’s essential for your garden/farm, then visit these blogs here and here. The plants get a dip in the mycorrhizal fungi incoculant to coat the root ball.

Meanwhile, I use my Dibber (one of my top favorite garden tools) to create deep holes for the plants. The dibber allows for a super deep hole without having to flip the soil onto itself, exposing weed seeds. The dibber is also THE tool you want to use for planting in landscape fabric!

What spacing should you use for Lisianthus? Spacing for lisianthus is much closer than other cut flowers — we space our lisianthus plants only three inches apart (The photos below show lisianthus planting at 6 inches apart in 2021, when we were using landscape fabric that had holes already burned into it for other cut flowers. Please note we do plant lisianthus 3 inches apart now).

Once holes have been made with the dibber, I add the lisianthus plugs to the holes and squish the soil around the transplant for a secure soil connection.

After planting, water in deeply if you have a water source. My water is not hooked up yet, so I chose to plant after a rainy day when the soil has ample moisture.

Most Important advice for planting anything

Always plant lisianthus plugs, or transplants of any kind, on an overcast or rainy day when the sun is not shining. Especially make sure you’re planting on an overcast day when you use landscape fabric, otherwise the sun will absolutely fry your plants.

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