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Snapdragon (Latin name antirrhinum majus) are one of those simple yet magical flowers that I think most of us have endearing childhood memories filled of epic puppet shows with the flowers snapping jaws like a dragon, while a boxful of Rollie-pollies are the scared citizens taking shelter (am I alone on this?). Where our mom’s would snag a pack of cheery yellow and pink snapdragons to bloom from spring to fall just for our entertainment. Okay, more because they look amazing, but they are entertaining too!

Before beginning our quest of flower farming, I didn’t realize how many different snapdragons there were to choose from! Scrolling through the seed catalog can get you a little crosseyed. Outside of shape and color there is also short day varieties, long day varieties and so on, the choices just keep heaping! These days, I have finally found my handful of must haves in the snapdragon patch but I still find myself just adding one or two more colors or varieties to the mix each season.

I will say I don’t feel we ever had an outstanding snapdragon patch until this year. We always had them (well.. except for last year which I will get into in a bit) but they weren’t at the level of amazing. We grew them, they were fun, but most of the stems were spindly and short. The husband really wanted to grow more. I like them but come on, ranunculus! Need I say more?! Turns out he was on to something, we did need a fairly simple staple flower in the garden, especially for our subscription bouquets. To earn an entire row though, we needed to grow them well to make it worth it.

This year all the pieces fell into place and we finally had a winning crop of snaps. Before diving into some things we did more on the “correct-side” let’s dive into some hard lessons we learned last year and then finish off my ramblings with some of my absolute favorite snapdragon varieties and colors.

The year without snapdragons and some lessons learned

If you have watched our “Avoid this salty mistake” video you are aware that spring of 2019 was not our spring, that also rolled into a the majority of summer, it simply was not our best year. Moving to a whole new property with desolate dirt, that even though it screamed potential, it was absolutely challenging. We did what you are not supposed to do and did things fast. It was a last minute move and we already had orders in place. We did not have the luxury of straddling two properties, it was a pickle for sure. We also used some composted manure from a supplier we had always used and this time we got such a bad batch that we are still working on healing some rows. From ranunculus, anemones, dianthus to snapdragons- they all were struggling and dropping like flies. It was heartbreaking. Fortunately, we were able to baby most of the plants through it and they outgrew their struggles… all except for the snapdragons.

There were zero snapdragons last year. Now, thankfully we had all kinds of other goodies and we figured out what was going on before planting the dahlias, whew! Still, this year, we wanted to conquer the snapdragon growing.

In past years, we didn’t put much thought on the sensitivity of snapdragons. I mean, they kind of grow everywhere and are a staple in any summer garden. We looked at them as a more robust, typical filler-type flower and didn’t pay the most attention to them compared to ranunculus, dahlias or other high value flowers. Aside from the information on the seed packet and oogling at pretty pictures, that was about as much research as I did on them.

Pro-tip: research each individual flower you are planning on growing and log notes! The reality is, if you are growing for cut flower production, each variety needs to be given their best fighting chance and deserve your efforts!

Last year, we had sent tissue samples of the snapdragons to our local university’s lab when we noticed our healthy transplants struggling (yes the transplants in the photo above). If you have been hanging out with us for a while you probably know the results didn’t tell us anything more than what we already suspected: no disease, malnourished, dehydrated and basically super unhappy despite all the soil amendments and drip irrigation. Overall, we decided that the nutrients were locked up in the soil and that the manure was salty (and most likely came from a local dairy which has its own downsides), therefore, dehydrating and locking up necessary nutrients. Super complex subject but that’s the gist of it. By the time the results came back, I had already ripped out my once beautiful snapdragon babies, who over night, turned from vibrant green to droopy and finally to a crispy-yellow death. Despite being on drip irrigation, they were showing signs of severe dehydration.

The snapdragons were the canaries in the coal mine of our soil health issues. They also were the ones that led me down the rabbit hole of researching sodic soil and we began flushing our growing beds with yucca saponin. Thanks to their sacrifice, we were able to save a majority of our plants.

One thing we definitely learned: snapdragons are very sensitive to salts in the soil (which the manure we used we suspect had concentrated amounts but any composted manure has salts left behind). Most plants, outside of grasses, don’t love salty soil but the snapdragons REALLY hated it.

I can’t stress it enough, do a soil test and get a high quality compost from a reputable company before planting out any snapdragons! That was a hard lesson but it shifted our perspective in valuing our crops and soil so much more. Soil health is absolutely essential and honestly, incredibly interesting. Take a break from choosing flower varieties and spend some time really researching about soil health, it’s like visiting a microscopic outer space filled with alien creatures, it’s quite fascinating!

For 2020, we snagged our soil test and have been following their suggestions. The biggest change we made was switching our compost supplier. Not only are we getting a better product but they even know where we like our compost dumped, yay! For the snapdragons we knew they couldn’t go in any of the first growing beds we made. We decided to put them in one of the dahlia rows from last year since we knew how incredibly happy those plants were.

Outside of better soil for the snapdragons we also decided to grow them cold and slow. In a minimally heated greenhouse we did our first succession back in late November and planted them out in February under a double low tunnel. This gave us our first snaps in May. Yup, a lot longer than the 110 days listed on the packet (but that’s what happens when you grow them slow and cold!). Our following successions went a month apart each. The snapdragons naturally branched, had hardy healthy plants and even their subsequent flushes are still some of the best stems we’ve ever had! We are finally on our game enough this year where we have already started snapdragons to fall plant and winter over, I cannot wait to see how those guys do!

Propagation/Growing

I’m not going to dive too deep into propagation because we have lots of great seed starting blogs such as this one. Snapdragon seeds are super tiny! It is amazing that such a robust plant starts from something incredibly minuscule! Since the seed is tiny, we pretty much surface sow these guys followed with a light dusting of vermiculite. From there, we bottom water or lightly spritz the surface soil to not bury or dislodge the seed. Snapdragons take some patience for germination, especially when starting in the cool fall or winter months. They are also slow growing at first but once they take off, they go fast! Like most flower varieties that like growing in colder conditions, you will get bigger and better stems if the snapdragons get to establish in cooler temperatures but they can be grown in warmer temperatures as well. In warmer times of the year they will grow more accurate to the days to maturity stated on the seed packet. If growing during warmer months, consider planting them in partial shade to help them along.

Our system for growing snaps from seed is to start them in 128 or 200 cell propagation trays (you could also use the 3/4 inch mini soil blocker) then once they get a couple sets of true leaves I bump them up into 50 cell propagation trays. Once their roots are bursting at the seams, we plant them out into the field under a double low tunnel. By double low tunnel, I mean a tunnel that has a micro frost cloth tunnel that is covered with a larger more robust tunnel covered in greenhouse plastic. To learn more about the concept of season extension methods, be sure to check out our blog on that here.

The sweet spot on planting snaps for us is at 7x7 inches. In our full sun arid climate, the competition has created nice sturdy long stems which are shading each other to help eliminate weeds as a bonus. If you are growing in a more humid area you may want to space them up to nine inches apart to help lessen the chances of disease. Our soil is also lacking nitrogen, other than what we have added, therefore our plants aren’t naturally super vegetative like in some other climates with better soil.

Pests, they are a struggle

Growing snapdragons still presents some hurdles. The biggest battle we now have, which exploded early June, are my new foes (next to earwigs) conchuelas. So gross and they smell like rotting coriander! I like cilantro but these guys smell like the bunch you forget in your vegetable drawer for a month and become a mushy mess. Bleh.

What are conchuelas?

They are grouped with stink bugs and through some research I learned they love alfalfa. It made complete sense that we got a huge influx of these little jerks once the alfalfa growers did their first cutting. Guess next to alfalfa, they LOVE snapdragons. After knocking them into buckets of soapy water three times a day, along with a couple sprayings of pyganic and spinosad (and feeding the snaps some yummy Tiger Bloom with) we are finally getting the Conchuelas under control and snapped back to being happy. Between high winds and those guys, our beautiful snapdragons were hideous for a good couple weeks. A hard cutting along with all the other treatments and they are back to producing. I will say, they have been my neediest crop because of all this! One thing I did note about conchuelas is if you want to easily snag, especially the adults, go out early in the morning; around 6am and it is easy to knock them into a bucket of soapy water. They like to hang out on the tips of of the plants and are rather groggy. Their arrogance seems to work in our favor in this way! Definitely keep your eyes peeled for their cluster of whitish grey eggs that swirl and scrape them off into the soapy water as well. I really should just write a whole post about these guys- they’re just terrible.

Another pest that are quickly attracted to snapdragons in our field are also caterpillars. We handpick them off when we spy them to give as chicken snacks, to the horror of our youngest who want to keep all the caterpillars to watch them “make a chrysalis”! We also apply BT to tackle the caterpillars, which you can read more about the different natural pesticides we use sparingly on our blog here. Overall, my favorite method of pest management is just handpicking. The snapdragon patch is a favorite with many of our pollinator friends so proper application and doing it at dusk after our friends go to bed is a must to keep everyone happy and safe (other than the trouble makers that is…).

The next biggest pest would be thrips. Surprise, surprise darn thrips! On the darker colors they aren’t as noticeable but on the lighter colors they are just gross. I shake them off into a bucket of soapy water to get most of them off. This fall I really want to dive into getting some more beneficial in the garden, namely nematodes, to help get these guys under control. Even though the thrips aren’t pretty on the snaps, thankfully they don’t seem to leave the piercing or browning damage like we find on our colibri poppies, anemones or ranunculus.

I guess you could say, the snaps are loved by all kinds of creatures in the garden! My favorite visitors are the giant bumble bees- they’re like the dogs of the bee world, so clumsy and cute. They sure talk a lot to the snaps too! Their buzzing can be deafening! And yes, it is a rule that you have to talk to these bumbling bees- their feelings will be hurt.

Trellis, just do it

So you are aware, I am a lazy flower farmer who absolutely hates trellising. Don’t even get me started with hortanova, it is the most frustrating thing to put up and even worse to take down. Anything that easily tangles easily frustrates me. Thankfully, Graham has more patience and with team work we have been using it more. The first thing to get horizontally trellised? The snapdragons. We have insane winds that love to rip down from the Sierras and shred everything in our valley. It’s just one of those things when you live here. Broken plants and snapped off flower heads has me every year kicking myself for not prioritizing trellising. This year we prioritized it and from past experience, there’s a ton you can get away not trellising or even simply coral trellising, which is way easier in so many ways, but properly trellis the snapdragons. They will be happy and you will be happy. Do it before they need it… otherwise the husband might get mad at you when you keep snapping the flower heads on your side while navigating the netting. Even better, if you have it in your funds look into using hog panels. Crazy expensive but should be a one time investment!

To Pinch or not to Pinch?

As with any cool-loving-branching variety there is the question on whether or not to pinch back the plant to encourage more stems that are longer and just better!

Here’s the trick with that: earlier successions that have been growing cold and slow will naturally branch and your pinching of the plant will only further set back your harvest. We don’t bother pinching earlier successions of snapdragons for that reason.

On the other hand, on subsequent successions you may find that you need to pinch. If you aren’t seeing them naturally shooting out little baby branches towards the bottom of the seedling by the time the snaps have four or five true sets of leaves, then go ahead and pinch the seedling down to two or three sets of true leaves. If you miss pinching, when you harvest the first main central stem cut deep- about the length of your forearm. The plant will shoot out fresh branches.

Irrigation is key

As a rule of thumb with all our flowering plants: drip irrigation. Drip irrigation is your friend for numerous reasons but specifically for snapdragons… they are prone to a lot of fungi, disease, powdery mildew, rust- all of which overhead watering will exacerbate. Providing them adequate water and allowing them to get deep drinks of water will promote deep root growth and have these guys rewarding you with many stems from spring to frost.

Harvesting and post handling

Snapdragons appreciate being harvested early in the morning, if we do harvest when its a little warmer they get tucked straight into the cooler to get that field heat off.

Harvest when the first few blooms are open, typically recommended a minimum of three florets. You can wait for more to open but be aware that once those flowers are pollinated, they will fall off. Not a huge deal, simply strip the spent flowers if you go that route.

If you don’t want the stems of the snaps to bend and curve, be sure to keep them straight up and down in the bucket since they are geotropic. This means gravity has an effect on them and if the snapdragons are not stored vertical, they will bend and once that happens they will stay that way which can be fun in arrangements but if you want a higher quality stem store properly.

As always, the flowers need to go into fresh cool water that is in a clean sanitized bucket with a CVBN tablet. Once arranged or delivered, they like flower food. With this, you will get a week plus vase life from these guys. Side note: as the new florets on the snapdragons open, they will open more faded in color. It’s best to move them fast for this reason.

Favorite Varieties

Like I said in the beginning, there are so many fun varieties of snapdragons! My four favorite varieties are: Chantilly, Madame Butterfly, Costa and Potomac. Even within just these handful of varieties there’s tons of options for colors.

Snapdragons can be a common flower, we know this. The key is to find some unique shapes and colors then grow them well. I promise, you will not hear the comments about them being the same as the ones at Home Depot!

Chantilly

These are my favorite for design work. Snapdragons I don’t classify as the easiest to work with in design work. The Chantilly are though! More wispy, delicate with upward buttercup appeal they won’t overwhelm the design. My top two colors are bronze and white, which I use a ton for wedding work.

Madame Butterfly

This is my girl crush of snaps. The fluffy azalea type flowers add character and a lot of confusion! Majority of our customers can’t believe it’s a snapdragon! I love the ivory and the bronze (seeing a pattern?) colors then the red for a fall crop. There are some other gorgeous colors such as their pink which is like a bubblegum color, we just don’t tend to get much request for that color, though gorgeous.

Madame Butterfly is a great multi-purpose snap for design work and bouquets.

The classic snapdragon forms: Potomac and Costa

There are lots of varieties that are great, including rocket, that have the more familiar snapdragon look. For us, I have been really happy with Potomac and Costa color choices. The more classic snapdragon varieties is where color selection becomes imperative to make it stand out. We have some classic colors such as lavender and dark orange is lovely for fall. Appleblossom is cheery and great for spring and summer with its duel color of white and pink.

My absolute favorite and the variety that reformed my opinion of typical snapdragon form being overdone and a bore are Costa Silver and Costa Apricot from Johnny Seeds. Since they have been sold out on the Costa Apricot for months, my guess is I am not the only fan girl out there. Costa Silver is an incredibly pale pink that gets slightly darker with the heat of the season but still classy. Great for design work since it’s not a strong pink that most brides and florists cringe at. Costa Apricot is a gorgeous color that has just enough apricot to yellow ratio. In subsequent flushes it has been becoming more yellow but its a deeper yellow that our customers have come to love (which yellow is not a popular color for us normally).

These guys have been absolute workhorses for our subscription bouquets!

There you have it! Snapdragons! Honestly I didn’t think I had that much to say about these guys but I guess it did! They are such great producers in the garden and when grown well are stunning. Even though they are considered a more common variety of flower they still have a place in the local market. Imported snaps are not going to smell like bubblegum!… Just saying. Give a whole new experience to your customers on a classic favorite!

Snapdragons