Has anyone grown stock?

I am curious as to wether this cool weather plant will grow in our spring or fall and if it is easy/hard to grow from seed?

I have never grown it from seed, I bought plants a couple of years ago. It smells awesome while it lasts, but it doesn't last very long. You can find plants in early spring

Ditto Tropicana, ncdd. I grew it one year here in Charleston, but they were budded plants. Put them in the ground in the middle of March, and by the middle of April, they were spectacular. By the middle of May, they were roasted Stock. They should last longer in Waxhaw, but I think seed would be a problem unless you've got access to a cool greenhouse in January and started them then.

I tried winter sowing them last year. No luck.

I agree with Stono River. They need to go in the ground in the fall or early winter. They hate the heat and I think it would be really tough to grow from seed. I do plant them every year but seem to lose a lot of them with too much rain etc. But man, the smell makes it worth it. They smell so wonderful. They do better for me in containers. Good luck.

I have evening stock that I ws'ed back on Jan 18th and it's coming up nicely...Hope it'll flower before the heat gets it.
Bev

I wintersowed Virginia stock (Malcolmia maritima) in January. I really enjoyed using the tiny flowers as an edging for one of my beds when I grew it two years ago. Like Clarkia and California poppies, though, it's a plant for the cooler temperatures -- at least in my experience here in the Midlands of South Carolina.

I don't mind the fact that Virginia stock blooms for only a couple of months because that's a fairly long bloom time here. Sometimes, the really long-blooming plants, like Lantana, become kind of unnoticeable after a while, if you know what I mean.