PlantSowGrow
How to plant and care for Scabious (Butterfly Blue)
Scabiosa columbaria 'Butterfly Blue'
🌸 Flower
🔁 Perennial
Pincushion flowers in soft lavender-blue from early summer to autumn, loved by butterflies and bees.
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 Scabious (Butterfly Blue): what it needs
- Light
- Full sun · 6+ hours a day
- Watering
- Water well until established, then in dry spells
- Soil
- Well-drained, alkaline soil
- Spacing
- 30 cm
- Height
- 40 cm
- In pots
- Grows well in containers
- Feeding
- No feeding needed
- Hardiness
- USDA zones 4–9
Step by step
- On planting day
Plant
Plant at the same depth as it was in its pot, 30 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
- JuneIn Flower
Butterfly magnet in flower — take a photo.
- JulyDeadhead Regularly
Snip off faded flowers to keep them coming until autumn.
- NovemberCut Back
Cut stems down to the leafy base.
More flowers to grow
Photo: Photo by David J. Stang / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
