Snapdragon

Antirrhinum majus

Plantaginaceae

The dragon mouth you pinch for a child — a cool-season spire that makes a cut-flower row before the zinnias take the heat.

Garden snapdragon. A cut flower, not a food. Children may pinch the dragon mouth; they should not eat it.

Parts used: Flower (cut)
Traditional notes: Cut flower · Children’s dragon mouth
Grow · USDA 6b: Tender perennial grown as a hardy annual. Takes light frost. Start indoors 8–10 weeks before last frost, or buy starts. Fall plantings for a spring spire in mild spots. In work: Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Sep
Harvest: Spikes with the lower third open.

Pinch the first tip for a branching plant, or leave it for a single tall spire.
A second sowing in late July for autumn, if the heat breaks.

Safety

Not a salad flower

Companions

Plant with Cornflower, Cosmos, Dahlia, Sunflower, Zinnia.

Lore

Antirrhinum is snout. The dragon is a later, better name. Victorian children pinched them; Victorian gardeners rust-dusted them. The mechanics of the flower are a pollination lock for strong bees — a bumblebee, not a hoverfly, is the proper key.

The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.