What it is
Lacy Phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia) is in the Boraginaceae family. One of the best bee plants among cover crops — ferny foliage, lavender coils of flowers, fast soil cover.
How to grow it
It wants full sun, water it low, and give it well-drained soil. Target a soil pH around 6.0–7.5. Space plants about Broadcast apart. Expect roughly Fast bloom. Cool-season annual.
How it's used
Lacy Phacelia is used: cover; pollinator.
🔎 How to identify it
- Ferny divided leaves
- Coiled lavender flower clusters
- Fast-growing
Not for eating
How to grow & propagate lacy phacelia
Everything I've worked out about starting this one, keeping it alive through a Texas year, and turning one plant into many — free.
How to propagate lacy phacelia
Borage self-sows so freely from seed you'll have it forever after one planting. Comfrey is the opposite — it almost never sets viable seed and instead spreads from root cuttings. A two-inch piece of comfrey root will grow a whole new plant, which is why it's nearly impossible to remove once established.
Growing lacy phacelia in Texas
Give it full sun and well-drained soil. Match the spot to the plant and most of the battle is already won.
Time your planting to our long warm season and watch the frost dates at both ends; the live weather tool on this site is built for exactly that.
Keep moisture even, especially while it's young — deep, less-frequent soaks build better roots than a daily sprinkle.
Harvesting
Figure on roughly fast bloom before you're harvesting.
Making more for free
If you want more, let your healthiest plants mature fully and collect the seed once it's dry on the plant — then store it somewhere cool, dark, and dry until next season.
Part of the free Texas Roots plant database, compiled by Jordan Polasek from his greenhouse in El Campo, Texas. Free to read and share. If it helped, the best thanks is to grow something.