Description
Scabiosa Starflower
Scabiosa stellata starflower
Beautiful in pots as well as the garden.
Growing up to 60cm tall in my garden last summer, you can stake plants for poker straight stems or simply leave them to tumble of the edge of the pots.
Shorter than our other cut flower varieties, Scabiosa atropurpurea ‘Garden Blend’ and Scabiosa atropurpurea ‘Wedding Blend’, Starflower Scabiosa looks best towards the middle and front of a mixed border.
Flowering from June, the flowers of palest blue/lilac attract the bees and butterflies, then, as they start to go over paper thin, bronze globe shaped seed pods emerge giving a garden display that lasts months!
Use fresh or dried in arrangements.
Perfect for Weddings and Professional floristry.
How to grow:
Plants will grow too quickly from an autumn sowing, so we will delay starting seeds until late winter when the light levels return. Plants will then be ready to go out in the garden as the frosts come to an end.
Sow one seed per cell making a small impression in the compost and laying the seed in the dip. As seeds germinate, I find they can push themselves up, out of the compost.
Light aids germination so we don’t want to cover seeds. Simply back fill the dip with compost later to secure and support seedlings as they grow.
For more detailed growing instructions join our ‘Grow-A-Long’ and for busy gardeners you can now plan ahead with our Spring Grow-A-Long Handbook
Details:
Variety: Starflower Scabiosa stellata (annual dried flower Scabious)
Type: Hardy Annual
Position: Full sun
Sow: Spring
Germination: Up to 30 days
Spacing: 15-20cm
Height: up to 60cm
Harvest: June/July onwards
Seeds per packet: 50
Cutting /Vase Life:
We don’t really use the flowers for arranging but you can if you wish. It’s the seed pods we use either freshly cut or dried.
Everlasting flowers
Harvest seed pods as they start to mature with a globe of star shaped pods each with a green and dark, almost black centre.
Don’t leave them too long before harvesting, otherwise the seeds will mature and each of the seed pods that make up the globe will break away. As they fall away, I think they look like tiny shuttlecocks.
Hang upside down to keep stems straight while drying in a cool well ventilated room, shed or garage keeping away from heat or direct sunlight.
To use seed pots fresh I simply cut and rest stems for a few hours in water, this is called conditioning.
