Lunaria, Honesty, Money Plant

One of the most valuable dried flowers we grow is Lunaria, also called ‘Honesty’ or ‘Money Plant’ because of the shiny coin-like seed pods it produces. This biennial flower blooms purple in the spring and the flowers transform into the magical pods. There is a little bit of a dull husk on the outside of each “coin”. Remove the husk and you can capture seeds for next season’s crop AND still sell the valuable sparkly pods.

The pods sell for $30 USD in the winter time and I see them sell out OFTEN.

I’ve had better luck sowing them some years than others, but saving seeds is easy and they are plentiful, so you can always start some extra successions if the first ones fail. It is recommend that you use large cell trays or small pots to start lunaria seeds in the late winter. I start them at room temp inside.

Remember - they won’t bloom the first year. But the early effort is worth it and once you get going, if you maintain an annual sowing or have good fortune with the plants self-sowing (also possible) you’ll have money plant seed pods every season.

Resist the urge to cut the purple flowers (blooming now in my video). They are beautiful and look a bit like tall garden phlox or dame’s rocket.

You can find lunaria seeds through Swallowtail Garden Seeds.