Scabiosa is one of my favorite garden flowers. They’re easy to plant and care for, have a long flowering season, and work well as a stand alone plant or as an accent flower planted along side of other garden flowers. Scabiosa grows quickly which is nice if you’re trying to fill a plot in. I also like that they’re splashy looking and pretty, but not overly showy plus they look great in a bouquet and are easily pressed if you like to make pressed or dried flower art. Here are some basics…
Scabiosa is sometimes called the ‘Pincushion flower’ and comes in both annual and perennial varieties.
The annual Scabiosa atropurpurea is a good flower to start early indoors, but you can sow right into the ground in the spring as well. These plants can get pretty tall (up to 3 feet) and have a flowering season that can go from mid-summer all the way into autumn. The downside is that because of their height you may need to stalk the plants.
Scabiosa columbaria, or the perennial Scabiosa, is actually one of the very first plants I planted when I had my first garden. I planted the lavender shaded, ‘Butterfly Blue’ variety, but these also come in other colors. There’s no staking necessary with columbaria because the plants only grow about ten inches high with flowers that can be 18 inches long, but are often shorter. I like this variety because they’re perfect for cutting and have this crazy long flowering season (in the Northwest anyhow) that can start as early as May and will go until frost. I’ve actually seen flowering Scabiosa in mid-winter though here in Oregon, so if you have a milder winter climate you may get flowers almost year round.
Both Scabiosa columbaria and Scabiosa atropurpurea need full sun and rich well drained soil. I’ve heard that you can grow these in partial shade with some success, but they’ll have fewer flowers. NOTE: I haven’t tried growing these in the shade though, I’ve just heard this rumor around. Another perk of Scabiosa is that this plant will attract butterflies to your garden.
I’ve never really looked beyond lavender Scabiosa because I like them, but then this year I saw an awesome pink variety that made me wonder what other colors were out there. Here’s a collection of options below, starting with the pink variety I mentioned – Scabiosa atropurpurea ‘Summer Sundae’ – a totally pretty blend pink shades with a hint of white.
- Scabiosa Summer Berries – a lovely blended mix with blackberry, wine-red, dusty rose and delicate pale pink.
- Scabiosa ‘Butterfly Blue’– great blue – lavender shade.
- Organic Ace of Spades Scabiosa – this plant has deep maroon, almost black flowers plus extra long stems for unique bouquets.
- Scabiosa atropurpurea Ebony and Ivory – While I don’t think I’d plant this mix, because it’s a little bold for my personal flower style, I do think that this mix would look stunning in the right garden setting.
Post from: Blisstree