Snapdragons are perennial plants often sold as cold-season annual plants and do best in full of partial sun. Snapdragons are particular favorite of children who like to pinch the tiny individual blossoms and make the "dragon mouth" open and close. Their large, blossom-laden flower heads are faintly fragrant and come in a wide assortment of bright colors. The vertical flower spikes, opening gradually from the bottom to the top. A single Snapdragon plant may produce seven or eight blossom spikes in the course of a summer.
Snapdragons make excellent cutflowers and excel in beds and at the front of borders. Gardeners used to be less than enthusiastic about snapdragons as cut flowers because blossoms tended to "shatter"--drop off shortly after being fertilized by bees, but plant breeders have developed shatterproof strains. Snapdragons flourish in well-fertilized soil and full sun.
Snapdragon is also important as a model organism in botanical research.
