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The annual blue cornflower is a slender plant of great charm. Its rich shades of blue are much sought after, both for garden decoration and for flower arrangements. Garden varieties have added red, pink, lilac and white to the colour range, and even bright yellow is available in the closely related sweet sultan Amberboa moschatus. The wiry plants may need some discreet support, and deadheading helps to prolong the flowering season, as does autumn sowing, an option that will produce larger, earlier-flowering plants. This fully hardy plant requires a sunny site, growing in most well-drained soil types, even poor soil.