The Pincushion Flower: Butterfly Blue
One of our favorite perennial plants for the garden is Scabiosa columbaria “Butterfly Blue.” This delightful little plant blooms all summer long and is an important addition to the butterfly garden.
There are many different colors of pincushion flower. You can get plants that bloom white, pink, purple, blue and maroon. There are annual and perennial varieties of Scabiosa. It is an old-fashioned flower that shows up on garden plans from the 1920s and 1930s, but has become more popular in recent years because of its prolific output of blooms, throughout the growing season.
Butterfly Blue was the perennial plant of the year in 2000, firmly cementing this plant’s return to prominence in every perennial and butterfly garden.
Butterfly Blue is a dwarf Scabiosa variety that grows to about 12 inches tall. While species scabiosa re-seeds in the garden, this cultivar spreads from its original clump by simply getting larger and growing outward each year. It is most at home in full sun to partial shade, and is a nectar plant for adult butterflies. Because of its low-growing habit, you can see the plant best if you plant it near the front of your garden border. The foliage is considered “basal,” which means it grows near to the ground, with the flowers appearing to float above on long, narrow stems. It is nice to inter-plant with other low-growing plants that flower low to the ground, because it gives a multi-tier effect.
- Buy Butterfly Blue seeds
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