How to grow snapdragons and best varieties

Antirrhinums are a traditional cottage-garden favourite, with cute dragon-faced blooms that are fun to ‘snap’. Modern breeding has increased the range of colours available, as well as developing open and double blooms on long stems that make them ideal for using in bouquets.

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Key facts

PLANT TYPE Half-hardy perennial

POSITION Full sun

SOIL Moist but well-drained

How to grow antirrhinums: month by month

Best snapdragon varieties

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Full testing results for snapdragons

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Sowing

Sow under cover in early spring or autumn in trays of a Best Buy compost for seed sowing, covering the seeds with a thin layer of vermiculite or sieved compost. Keep moist with a constant temperature of around 20°C. Pot on once large enough to handle. Autumn sowings can be kept in the coldframe over winter.

Identify your plants with Best Buy plastic-free labels

Caring for your plants

Planting

Harden off and plant outside in a warm sunny spot once all risk of frost has passed in mid to late May.

Help your plants with a recommended soil improver

Pinching out

Modern breeding means that many antirrhinums don’t need pinching out at the young plant stage, naturally branching and growing shorter stems around a tall, central stem. However, if you want to grow for cutting, pinching out will encourage more uniform branching, giving you stems of equal height.

Supporting your plant

Some snapdragons can grow very tall and need support; tie stems to a cane pushed into the ground. 

Deadheading

Deadheading will keep plants looking tidy and keep the flowers coming for longer. Snip off spent flower spikes before they set seed.

Discover our Best Buy secateurs

Common growing problems

Rust

Rust is a fungal infection of the leaves that strikes late in the summer. You can treat with a Best Buy fungicide, but as antirrhinums are mainly grown as annuals it’s easy just to dispose of infected plants that have stopped flowering by putting them into the green waste. 

How we test snapdragons

The Which? Gardening magazine researchers selected 22 varieties of antirrhinums to grow from seed. We included previous Best Buys and varieties introduced since our last trial.

We sowed them under cover during April, using a Best Buy compost for raising plants and planted out in early June at our trial site in Cambridgeshire. 

We planted our antirrhinums in blocks and used sprinkler irrigation to help them establish. 

We assessed our plants throughout summer for how well they flowered, whether the blooms were true to their descriptions and how well they stood up to bad weather.

We deadheaded all of our plants as needed to keep the flowers coming.