Persian Cress is a Great Fresh or Dried Bouquet Filler

(Lepidium sativum)

Persian cress is very fast and easy to grow.

It’s a cress, so the leaves are edible. They add a mild peppery flavor to salads and sandwiches if you harvest the young leaves. But don’t do that with this one. This cress makes such a wonderful bouquet filler. They do best when planted in fall to early spring or in summer once the nights are longer and cooler.

They have a wild appearance which makes the other flowers in the arrangement look especially elegant.

Persian cress flowers and plants

The foliage is a nice pale green. The plants grow to 3- 3 ½ ft. tall with many stems. The flowers are small and white. The flowers quickly yield to tiny seed pods.

How to grow Persian Cress

Annual; Sun: full; Water and soil: average, well-draining soil.

It does best when planted in fall to early spring or in summer once the nights are longer and cooler. Get them growing before the heat of summer.

Direct-sow the seeds in fall, late winter, or early spring, depending on how cold it gets in your area. In cold zones you’ll need to wait till early spring. In milder climates, like zone 6-9, fall or late winter planting is fine. They don’t suffer in frosts. But if you get prolonged frosts and heavy snow, wait till spring to plant.

You can plant them every two weeks to get a succession of harvests. This works only if you’re planting in spring and while it’s still going to be cool when they’re growing. This will give you a prolonged harvest. But that takes extra space and time.

So I like to grow them all at once with a fall, late winter, or early spring sowing. Super easy. Then I harvest them throughout their bloom and pod formation to use for fresh arrangements. Then harvest when the pods are ripe to dry for dried arrangements and wreaths.

This works because once I’m done with Persian cress there are new bouquet fillers ready to use. So I don’t feel like I need more than one good batch. Some for fresh use and some for drying.

How to harvest the Persian Cress

Harvest for fresh use when the flowers are open or later when they’re forming pods. Simply cut them at the bottom and put into water in the usual way. For dried use cut them when the pods are fully formed. They need to be fully developed so the stems don’t flop over.

Favorite varieties

Persian cress is the one. There are several varieties of cress to grow for eating, but this one is tall and best for cut flower use.

Sources for Persian Cress seeds

My favorite sources:

Johnny’s

Urban Farmer

Flowers to go with Persian Cress

These go with fresh flowers that bloom early in the season:

For dried arrangements and wreaths: