Matthiola incana Katz Lavender Light | Stock

Matthiola incana Katz Lavender Light is a professional cut flower stock with elegant, softly coloured lavender-lilac blooms, strong upright stems and the distinctive sweet-spicy fragrance for which stock flowers are loved. Its cool, delicate lavender shade brings a refined pastel colour to bouquets and is especially beautiful for spring arrangements, romantic wedding flowers and sophisticated floral design.

Katz Lavender Light belongs to the early-flowering, single-stem Katz series developed for professional cut flower production. The series is valued for good uniformity, strong stems and consistent flowering, making it suitable for both protected and field production.

The soft Lavender Light colour is particularly useful for florists because it combines easily with both pastel and deeper shades while providing the vertical structure and fragrance characteristic of Matthiola incana.

Plant Information

• Botanical name: Matthiola incana
• Common name: Stock
• Variety: Katz Lavender Light
• Series: Katz
• Family: Brassicaceae
• Life cycle: Annual
• Flower colour: Light lavender-lilac
• Growth habit: Upright, single stem
• Plant height: approx. 60–80 cm
• Stem length: approx. 50–70 cm
• Days to flowering: approx. 90–100 days
• Position: Full sun
• Best season: Spring and autumn
• Use: Professional cut flower, bouquets and floral design
• Fragrance: Strong, sweet-spicy stock fragrance
• Growing conditions: Field or protected cultivation

A Soft Lavender-Lilac Colour

Katz Lavender Light stands out for its delicate, cool lavender-lilac flowers.

Rather than a dark purple or saturated violet, Lavender Light offers a soft and luminous pastel lavender tone. This subtle colouring gives arrangements an elegant, romantic appearance and makes the variety particularly versatile for professional floristry.

Lavender Light pairs beautifully with white, cream, blush pink, pale rose, apricot, soft yellow and other lavender tones. For stronger contrast, it can also be combined with burgundy, plum and deeper purple flowers.

Its colour is especially attractive for spring bouquets, wedding flowers and pastel floral palettes, while the tall flower spikes add valuable vertical structure.

Professional Stock for Cut Flowers

Katz Lavender Light has been selected for professional single-stem cut flower production.

Plants develop strong, upright stems topped with dense flower spikes. Under suitable conditions, plants reach approximately 60–80 cm, with useful cut stems of around 50–70 cm.

The Katz series is known for its uniform growth and flowering, an important advantage for growers who need predictable harvests and consistent stem quality.

Stock is naturally suited to cool-season production, making Katz Lavender Light particularly valuable for spring and autumn crops as well as greenhouse or tunnel cultivation.

Fragrance That Adds Value to Bouquets

One of the reasons Matthiola incana remains such a valuable cut flower is its unmistakable fragrance.

Katz Lavender Light produces the characteristic rich, sweet and spicy fragrance associated with stock. This makes it particularly attractive for bouquets where scent is as important as colour and flower form.

The combination of pastel lavender flowers, long vertical stems and fragrance gives this variety a luxurious quality that works especially well in premium floral arrangements.

Important – Do Not Pinch

Katz Lavender Light is grown as a single-stem, one-cut stock.

Each plant is intended to produce one primary flowering stem.

Do not pinch the plants.

Unlike branching cut flowers, removing the growing point does not encourage multiple harvestable stems and can prevent normal flowering.

For a longer harvest window, use successive sowings approximately every two weeks rather than pinching.

Sowing Katz Lavender Light

For professional cut flower production, starting plants in plug trays and transplanting them is recommended.

Sowing can begin indoors or under protection from February, depending on the desired flowering period and local growing conditions.

Sow into a fine, well-drained seed-starting substrate and cover only lightly. Maintain consistent moisture without allowing the substrate to become waterlogged.

An appropriate germination temperature is approximately 18–24°C.

Germination generally takes around 5–7 days under suitable conditions.

Allow approximately 90–100 days from sowing to flowering, although development will vary with temperature, light levels and growing conditions.

For a continuous supply of cut flowers, sow a new succession approximately every two weeks.

Transplanting and Growing

Transplant seedlings into their final growing position once they are well established.

Choose a location in full sun with fertile, well-drained soil. Stock appreciates consistent moisture but does not perform well in waterlogged conditions.

For professional cut flower production, relatively close spacing can be used to encourage long, straight stems. The exact spacing should be adapted to the production system, climate and desired stem quality.

Long stems may benefit from a horizontal support net, particularly in windy locations or areas with frequent rainfall.

A Cool-Season Cut Flower

Stock performs best in relatively cool growing conditions.

Katz Lavender Light is therefore particularly well suited to spring and autumn production. In regions with mild conditions, it can also be grown under protection to extend the harvest season.

Hot conditions can shorten the flowering period and reduce overall flower quality, so production timing is important when growing stock specifically for high-quality cut stems.

Harvesting for Bouquets

Harvest when the flower spike has developed good colour and the lower flowers have begun to open.

Cut stems at the appropriate stage for the intended market, allowing unopened buds higher on the spike to continue developing after harvest.

Place freshly harvested stems into clean water as soon as possible and keep them cool before use.

The tall, fragrant flower spikes are excellent for hand-tied bouquets, wedding arrangements and professional floral work, where they add height, texture, fragrance and a sophisticated pastel colour.

Why Grow Katz Lavender Light?

Professional cut flower variety • Soft lavender-lilac colour • Strongly fragrant flowers • Elegant pastel tone • Long, upright stems • Early-flowering Katz series • Good uniformity • Excellent for cool-season production • Beautiful for wedding flowers • Ideal for spring bouquets and professional floristry

Katz Lavender Light (Matthiola incana) is an excellent choice for growers looking for stock seeds for cut flower production with elegant lavender flowers, strong stems and an exceptional fragrance. Its sophisticated pastel colour makes it especially valuable for florists looking for softer lavender tones that combine easily with seasonal flowers.