Dye plants
Showing all 9 results
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Sunflower – Hopi Black (Organic)
£2.45 Add to basketSunflower – Hopi Black (Organic)
The Hopi Black Sunflower is a heirloom variety stewarded by the Hopi people who used it’s dye in fabrics for basketry. Easy to grow and with a branching stems that can also be used for cutting, this variety is a wonderful addition to the dye and ornamental garden. Growing up to 3m in height with spectacular large flower heads, the seeds can be harvested to produce a beautifully rich dark purple dye.
(Approximate seed count – 25)
£2.45 -
Scabiosa – Black Knight (Organic)
£2.45 Add to basketScabiosa – Black Knight (Organic)
Dark red almost black velvety blooms on long stems, a favourite in the flower garden.
We were absolutely taken by this elegant flower with dark crimson to burgundy colours, some really going into black with contrasting creamy white stamen. This scabious makes an amazing cut flower and keeps impressing throughout the summer months. Flower heads make way for lovely seed heads with the shape of pin cushions.
Can be used as a dye flower producing over green and blue to purple dyes depending on mordant and modifiers.
(Approximate seed count – 50)
£2.45 -
Dyer’s Chamomile (Organic)
£2.20 Add to basketDyer’s Chamomile (Organic)
With a sprawling daisy-like habit and blue-green foliage, it’s cheerful blooms produce a bright cadium yellow natural dye. This variety is a short-lived perennial and like other chamomiles it will self seed in situ to grow again the next year.
(Approximate seed count – 300)£2.20 -
Dyer’s Coreopsis (Organic)
£2.40 Add to basketDyer’s Coreopsis (Organic)
No dye garden would be complete without the addition of Coreopsis, otherwise known as Dyer’s Tickseed. With cheerful beautiful blooms of bright yellow and a ruby heart, Coreopsis flowers produce a beautiful warm orange natural dye. It’s also a beautiful addition to the garden border for it’s tall stem length, drought tolerance and long flowering window, producing masses of flowers from midsummer to autumn.
(Approximate seed count – 300)£2.40 -
African Marigold – Crackerjack (Organic)
£2.40 Add to basketAfrican Marigold – Crackerjack (Organic)
A marigold variety that is great for natural dyeing and has gorgeous blooms in orange and yellow. Loved by pollinators for their strong scent, they are a reliable workhorse in the garden producing masses of cheerful blooms on slightly longer stems from July long into September. This variety is often grown as a dye plant, producing a deep and colourfast golden mustard on plant and animal fibres.
(Approximate seed count – 100)£2.40 -
Coreopsis – Roulette (Organic) ***NEW FOR 2026***
£2.40 Add to basketCoreopsis – Roulette (Organic) ***NEW FOR 2026***
A lovely Coreopsis variety with cheerful ruby red blooms and inner golden petals. No dye garden is without the addition of Coreopsis and this variety produces a beautiful warm orange natural dye. It’s tall stem length also make it a beautiful addition to the garden border as well its abundance of flowers from midsummer – autumn.
(Approximate seed count – 300)£2.40 -
Madder (Organic) ***NEW FOR 2026*** (Copy)
£3.25 Add to basketMadder (Organic) ***NEW FOR 2026*** (Copy)
Ancient perennial dye plant used to produce rich red pigments from its roots.
A beautiful dye plant, rubia tinctorum has been used for thousands of years, most famously responsible for the deep red of the British Redcoat uniforms. Its long, fleshy roots are packed with alizarin, the compound behind its distinctive colour.
Madder is a hardy perennial that grows to around 1m tall, with slender jointed stems and whorls of short, prickly leaves. In summer it produces small green-yellow, bell-shaped flowers, followed in late autumn by glossy black seeds that look remarkably like tiny peppercorns. It can be propagated from seed, or simply by dividing roots and shoots once established.
Harvesting and dye use:
The roots take around 3–4 years to reach harvestable size for dyeing. For the best depth of red, madder prefers an alkaline soil.(Approximate seed count – 40)
£3.25 -
Black Hollyhock (Organic) ***NEW FOR 2026***
£2.50 Read moreBlack Hollyhock (Organic) ***NEW FOR 2026***
A beautiful variety of Hollyhock with towering blooms and a deep plum – almost black – flowers. The classic cottage garden flower, Hollyhocks look fantastic at the back of a sunny border with stems up to 2m. It’s a short-lived perrenial and a great choice for pollinators and will self-seed readily.
(Approximate seed count – 50)£2.50 -
Weld (Organic)
£2.15 Read moreWeld (Organic)
Tall spires of yellow green flowers, well known dye plant also great as cut flower. Weld aka Dyers’ Rocket is native to Europe and historically used as a dye plant for making a bright brilliant yellow. It may even be one of the oldest dye plants known about.
We enjoyed it as a cut flower too with unusually shaped tall slender spikes of tiny pretty yellow green flowers adding texture to any bouquet.
(Approximate seed count – 500)£2.15
Showing all 9 results