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Are stocks really annuals?

Years ago I spotted an attractive plant at the wonderful Torrey Pines State
Park in San Diego, California. It was full of flower, quite large, but
unknown to me. As I continued to hike through the park, I finally found one
near to the trail and saw immediately that it was a common stock plant
(Matthiola). Hmmm, certainly not a California native!

But the plant seemed too large and full to have grown from a seed sprouted
in the fall, so I began to suspect that it had become a perennial.

Today my flower bed is full of beautiful, fragrant, and multi-colored stocks
-- and this year, most of them have doubled flowers. I am wondering if there
is a way to preserve the nicest ones for next year, while ripping out the
single flowered plants? I tried this last year, and nothing survived the
summer. They didn't seem dormant; they seemed dead.

Does anyone know how to keep a stock alive so it can be treated like a
perennial? Does it need shade, lots of water? Could it be transplanted to a
'nursery' bed for the summer? I live in San Diego, California, in Zone 10
(Sunset zone 23/24.)

Thanks,

Doug McClure
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