{"id":2768,"date":"2019-06-24T06:48:23","date_gmt":"2019-06-24T14:48:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=2768"},"modified":"2019-06-24T06:48:23","modified_gmt":"2019-06-24T14:48:23","slug":"pincushions-redux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/pincushions-redux\/","title":{"rendered":"Pincushions Redux"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I first wrote about pincushion flowers, which go by the unattractive Latin name, scabiosa, fifteen years ago, I had just purchased a lovely one.\u00a0 It was a striking dark purple-flowered variety, \u2018Ace of Spades\u2019.\u00a0 Billed as a perennial, I cosseted the plant for its entire first year, giving it sun, water and a prime garden position.\u00a0 It rewarded me with lots of flowers.<\/p>\n

And it died over the winter.<\/p>\n

When I rechecked the zone hardiness information, I realized that it really wasn\u2019t cold weather tolerant.\u00a0 We live and learn.<\/p>\n

After that, I consoled myself with other things, including a lot of roses, but something kept me from trying pincushion flowers again.\u00a0 The pincushion drought finally ended a few weeks ago when I treated myself to three plants of the classic Scabiosa columbaria \u2018Butterfly Blue\u2019.\u00a0 This time I checked the hardiness.\u00a0 Just to be on the safe side, the plants will be mulched to the hilt in late fall.<\/p>\n

Scabiosa, a member of the Caprifoliaceae or honeysuckle family, has been in cultivation for centuries.\u00a0 Scabiosa altropurpurea, an ancestor of many modern hybrids and varieties, made its way from its native Italy to England in 1620.\u00a0 Despite its popularity, scabiosa has never managed to lose its unfortunate genus name, which comes from the Latin word for \u201citch\u201d.\u00a0 Apparently before the invention of modern-day itch creams, people made decoctions from the leaves to treat the many itchy rashes that afflicted the frequently-unwashed population.\u00a0 Linnaeus, inspired by that idea, attached the itchy genus name to an attractive group of plants.<\/p>\n

Most garden scabiosa start out with a mound of elongated basal leaves, which is sometimes gray-green in color.\u00a0 When the flowering stems appear in late spring or early summer, they generally grow to a height of 18 to 24 inches, with a branching habit.\u00a0 Those stems are adorned with rounded flowerheads made up of tightly packed, spherical centers of tiny petals and stamens surrounded by halo of longer petals.\u00a0 The \u201cpincushion\u201d nickname came from the fact that the stamens protruding from the tight, rounded \u201ccushion\u201d, look like tiny pins.\u00a0 Pincushion flowers come in a range of shades from cream, yellow and pink, through a host of blues, blue-purples, and purples that are near black.<\/p>\n

Pincushion flowers start blooming in June and continue pushing out blooms throughout the growing season.\u00a0 Those flowers are a great draw for butterflies, but are not among the preferred treats for Mr. Antlers and his deer family.\u00a0 They also make long-lasting cut flowers.<\/p>\n

Now that I have \u2018Butterfly Blue\u2019, with its soft blue pincushions, I can take stock of the many cultivated varieties and hybrids that have come to market since my brief fling with \u2018Ace of Spades\u2019.<\/p>\n

Blue and blue-purple-flowered varieties abound, most notably \u2018Fama\u2019, which tops out at 24-inches and bears large, three to four-inch flowers.\u00a0 The lovely-sounding \u2018Mariposa\u2019 features a frilly, light blue-purple center, accented with white \u201cpins\u201d.\u00a0 The surrounding double petal halo is a shade or two darker.\u00a0 \u2018Mariposa\u2019 is a little shorter than some other scabiosa, growing 15 to 18-inches tall.\u00a0 \u2018Giant Blue\u2019, a hybrid, is much like \u2018Butterfly Blue\u2019 but with slightly shorter stems, a more vigorous growth habit and larger flowers.\u00a0 For pots and border fronts, try little \u2018Blue Diamonds\u2019, a mighty-mite of a plant that grows only six inches tall.\u00a0 The only caveat about \u2018Blue Diamonds\u2019 and its equally small sibling, \u2018Pink Diamonds\u2019, is that they are less hardy than other scabiosas and only work in USDA Zones 7 and higher.<\/p>\n

Purple pincushions include my lamented \u2018Ace of Spades\u2019 and \u2018Beaujolais Bonnets\u2019, a cold-hardy variety that grows to 24-inches tall and sports burgundy pincushions surrounded by lighter purple petals.\u00a0 \u2018Vivid Violet\u2019 is medium purple with a hint of blue and grows to 18 inches, with gray-green foliage.<\/p>\n

Lovers of pink can choose from \u2018Pink Mist\u2019, a sibling of \u2018Butterfly Blue\u2019 with similar traits, or \u2018Pink Lemonade\u2019, the only scabiosa I know of with variegated foliage to add interest when not in bloom.\u00a0 \u2018Fata Morgana\u2019 is a yellow variety, blushed with pink.\u00a0 For more cream- yellow try Scabiosa ochroleuca, which grows tall\u2014to 36 inches\u2014and blooms in a shade the catalog vendors call \u201csoft primrose\u201d.<\/p>\n

All pincushion flowers like a sunny location and dislike wet feet.\u00a0 This makes them drought tolerant, which is a good thing, but fussy about overwatering, which may be problematic for gardeners who think the hose or irrigation system is the answer to every horticultural prayer.\u00a0 If your soil is heavy clay, amend it with plenty of organic material when planting your pincushions.<\/p>\n

At this time of year, the fastest route to pincushion flowers is your local well-stocked garden center or nursery.\u00a0 Barring that, you can order from the good selection at Bluestone Perennials, www.bluestone.com<\/a>, or Forest Farm, www.forestfarm.com<\/a>.\u00a0 An internet search will also yield suppliers for less common species and varieties.<\/p>\n

Sometimes it takes a long time to get over the death of a promising plant like \u2018Ace of Spades\u2019.\u00a0 Fifteen years seems a little excessive.\u00a0 Perhaps I\u2019ll compensate by installing a crowd of pincushions in my beds and borders now.\"Scabiosa--2\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I first wrote about pincushion flowers, which go by the unattractive Latin name, scabiosa, fifteen years ago, I had just purchased a lovely one.\u00a0 It was a striking dark purple-flowered variety, \u2018Ace of Spades\u2019.\u00a0 Billed as a perennial, I cosseted the plant for its entire first year, giving it sun, water and a prime … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,3],"tags":[2129,150,257,2128,827,781,2025],"class_list":["post-2768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","tag-butterfly-blue","tag-blue-flowers","tag-deer-resistant-plants","tag-pincusion-flower","tag-pollinator-plants","tag-scabiosa","tag-sun-perennials"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2768"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2770,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2768\/revisions\/2770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}