Matthiola incana Katz Antique Rose | Stock

Matthiola incana Katz Antique Rose is a professional single-stem stock variety with elegant dusty antique-rose flowers, a beautiful fragrance and excellent uniformity in flowering time and stem length. Its sophisticated colour is a soft, cool dusty rose – similar in character to StoX® Antique Rose, but slightly cooler and softer – making it especially attractive for romantic, vintage and muted-colour floral work.

Katz Antique Rose belongs to an early-flowering, one-cut stock series developed for cut flower production. Plants produce one main flowering stem, with long flower columns covered in approximately 4–5 cm florets. Around 55–60% of plants naturally produce double flowers without selection.

This is primarily a cool-season cut flower, performing particularly well in spring and autumn, as well as under protected cultivation. For professional growers looking for fragrant, elegant stems with a distinctive antique colour, Katz Antique Rose is an excellent addition to the cutting garden.

Plant Information

• Botanical name: Matthiola incana
• Common name: Stock
• Variety: Katz Antique Rose
• Life cycle: Annual
• Hybrid: No – open pollinated
• Flower colour: Dusty antique rose / soft cool rose
• Flower type: Single and double
• Double-flowering: Approx. 55–60% without selection
• Floret size: Approx. 4–5 cm
• Growth habit: Upright, single stem
• Stem length: Approx. 60–80 cm
• Days to maturity: Approx. 90–100 days
• Blooming season: Spring and autumn
• Light: Full sun
• Best for: Cut flowers, field and protected cultivation
• Vase life: Approx. 5–10 days
• Seed supplied as: Raw seed

A Sophisticated Antique Rose Colour

The colour is one of the strongest reasons to grow Katz Antique Rose. Rather than a bright conventional pink, the flowers have a soft dusty-rose tone with a cool, muted character.

Compared with other stocks in a similar colour palette, Katz Antique Rose is close to StoX® Antique Rose but slightly cooler and softer in tone.

This nuanced colour works beautifully in romantic and vintage-inspired bouquets and combines especially well with cream, blush, burgundy, mauve and other muted seasonal shades.

Professional Stock for Cut Flower Production

Katz Antique Rose has been selected for single-stem cut flower production and offers good uniformity in both flowering time and stem length.

Plants form tall flower columns with closely arranged florets and produce long stems suitable for bouquets and floral design.

The variety has performed well in spring, early-summer and autumn production and is particularly valuable when temperatures remain relatively cool.

Stock is naturally fragrant, adding another desirable quality to bouquets beyond its colour and flower form.

Important: One Flowering Stem Per Plant

Katz Antique Rose is a one-cut, single-stem variety.

Each plant is grown to produce one main flowering stem. For this reason:

Do not pinch the plants.

Unlike branching cut flowers such as zinnias, pinching stock does not create a more productive plant. Pinching removes the main growing point and can terminate flowering.

For continuous production, it is therefore better to make successive sowings approximately every two weeks rather than trying to encourage repeated flowering from the same plant.

Double and Single Flowers

Without selection, approximately 55–60% of Katz Antique Rose plants produce double flowers. The remaining plants produce single flowers.

Growers who want to increase the proportion of double-flowering plants can select seedlings at the cotyledon stage, although the process requires additional time and careful observation.

For selection, expose seedlings at the cotyledon stage to approximately 4–7°C for 3–4 days.

After chilling, seedlings that are lighter green with larger, more oval cotyledons are more likely to produce double flowers. Very small seedlings and those with darker green, rounder cotyledons are more likely to produce single flowers.

Selection is optional – both flower forms can be grown and used.

Sowing Matthiola incana Katz Antique Rose

Transplanting – Recommended Method

For cut flower production, starting plants in plug trays is recommended.

Sow approximately 5–6 weeks before the planned transplanting date.

Sow seeds about 6 mm deep in a fine, well-drained seed-starting substrate. A 128-cell plug tray is suitable for professional production.

Maintain approximately 18–24°C during germination.

Seeds normally germinate within 7–14 days.

Plug production takes approximately 4 weeks, followed by around 8–13 weeks from transplanting to finished flowering stems, depending on temperature, season and growing conditions.

Direct Sowing

Seeds can also be sown directly outdoors after the danger of frost has passed, although transplant production provides greater control and is generally preferred for uniform cut flower crops.

Stock performs best as a cool-weather crop, so spring and autumn flowering successions are particularly suitable.

For an extended harvest period, make successive sowings approximately every two weeks.

Growing Conditions

Grow Katz Antique Rose in full sun and well-drained, moderately fertile soil.

The plants prefer consistent moisture but should not remain waterlogged. Maintain regular watering during active growth while ensuring good drainage.

Because stock belongs to the Brassicaceae family, young plants may be susceptible to flea beetle damage. Protective row cover can be useful immediately after transplanting where flea beetles are a known problem.

Plant Spacing and Support

For intensive cut flower production, plants can be grown at relatively close spacing. The supplied professional production information indicates densities of up to approximately 126 plants/m².

Where plants are grown more widely in the garden, spacing can be adjusted according to the cultivation system.

Horizontal support netting is useful, particularly where temperatures regularly exceed approximately 16°C, where rainfall is frequent or where stems may be exposed to wind.

Support helps keep the long flowering stems straight and suitable for high-quality cutting.

When to Harvest

For fresh cut flowers, harvest when approximately one-third to one-half of the florets on the flowering stem are open.

At this stage, the stem already provides good visual impact while the remaining buds can continue opening after harvest.

Expected vase life is approximately 5–10 days under suitable conditions.

For short-term cold storage, a temperature of approximately 2–5°C is recommended.

Why Grow Katz Antique Rose?

Professional cut flower variety • Sophisticated dusty antique-rose colour • Slightly cool and muted tone • Naturally fragrant flowers • Long 60–80 cm stems • Tall flower columns • Approx. 4–5 cm florets • 55–60% double flowers without selection • Good uniformity • Early-flowering one-cut series • Excellent for spring and autumn production

Katz Antique Rose is an excellent choice for growers looking for Matthiola incana seeds for professional cut flower production, especially when colour, fragrance, long stems and uniform flowering are important. Its soft antique-rose colouring gives it a refined character that is particularly valuable for romantic and sophisticated floral designs.