Scabiosa columbaria ‘Flutter Rose Pink’

We’ve found this to be a real flower factory on our nursery benches, blooming for months on end. ‘Flutter Rose Pink’ is a compact variety, sending up a profusion of deep rose-pink flowers with ruffled edges from late spring, sometimes continuing right into the first frosts. The flowers are held on wiry stems above a low mound of grey-green, ferny leaves and are a magnet for bees and butterflies.

This is a fairly compact plant, reaching around 35cm in height and spread. It forms a tidy mound and has a fast growth rate. Plant it in a sunny spot in any well-drained, neutral to alkaline soil; it doesn’t like to sit in wet ground, especially over winter. Once it’s established, it can handle dry conditions quite well.

There’s not much to it, care-wise. Just snip off the old flower stems to encourage more to come, a task we find quite therapeutic on a summer’s evening. It’s a brilliant choice for filling out the front of a sunny border, adding to a gravel garden, or for long-lasting colour in pots and containers.