pincushion flower

I wanted to tell you about one of my favorite cottage garden flowers, in case you don't know about it. If you do know about it, please let me know if you are also a fan!

It's lovely, and has a very ugly name. It's "scabiosa." I think this sounds like a Harry Potter spell to kill traitorous rats. (Scabiosa kedavra!)

It's also known more prettily as "pincushion flower."

I just love this flower. It's a perennial, which means it comes back each year. If you leave it be, it will spread out two or three feet wide.  Here is one I planted last year:

If you don't want it to get big and spread, you just divide it up (pull up part of the plant at the roots) and plant what you pull up somewhere else.  As long as you keep deadheading it (cutting off the dead flowers), it will keep blooming for the length of your growing season.

I have them tucked all over the place out front, in the beds and in containers.  They peek through the railings.

And they are really pretty as cut flowers, and last a long time.

They are pinky-purple, lavender, or off white, and butterflies love them. There are lots of different types. :)

I've bought a few at local nurseries (they are common here, and I assume they are elsewhere) and this year ordered a couple through Annie's Annuals & Perennials.  If you think you'd like to try one, check out Scabiosa artropurpurea,  Scabiosa anthemifolia or Scabiosa caucasica.