PlantSowGrow
How to plant and care for Knautia (macedonica)
Knautia macedonica
🌸 Flower
🔁 Perennial
Dark crimson pincushion flowers bobbing on wiry stems from June to September. A magnet for bees and butterflies in cottage borders.
When to plant and care for it
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Flowers
Timed for a typical UK garden (last frost mid-April). The app uses your own town's frost dates.
Growing Knautia (macedonica): what it needs
- Light
- Full sun · 6+ hours a day
- Watering
- Water well until established, then in dry spells
- Soil
- Well-drained soil
- Spacing
- 45 cm
- Height
- 75 cm
- In pots
- Grows well in containers
- Feeding
- A little general feed in spring
- Hardiness
- USDA zones 5–9
Step by step
- On planting day
Plant
Plant at the same depth as it was in its pot, 45 cm apart, and firm in.
- 0–1 days after “Plant”
Water In Well
Give a full can of water, then keep moist for the first few weeks while roots establish.
- 7–14 days after “Water In Well”
Mulch Around the Base
Spread 5 cm of compost or bark around the plant, keeping it off the stems.
Every year
- MarchCut Back Old Growth
Cut last year's dead stems and leaves to the ground before the new shoots get going.
- JulyIn Flower
Crimson pincushions full of bees.
- JulyDeadhead
Cut faded stems to keep it flowering.
