Scabiosa, not the prettiest of names, is a wild, pale-lilac coloured flower with long thin stems.
It is common here in the west of Ireland and grows in a scattered fashion across my garden, but particularly at the edges of paths
At the moment it is growing happily in my garden in small groups of six to ten scabiosa plants.
Each group covers an area from a foot square to 3 foot square.
BUTTERFLIES AND BEES
I have often noticed that bees and butterflies spend a lot of time floating around Scabiosa.
I see plenty of butterflies around my garden, but when I visited Bealtaine Cottage – Colette O’ Neills beautiful permaculture garden in County Roscommon, I saw more butterflies in a group than I have ever seen together in one place in my life.
The other interesting thing was they were sitting still, perched aboard the flowers as though they were attached.
They looked like they were simply waiting for something, I don’t know what, to happen in their beautiful little butterfly world.
A little bit of research on the BBC Gardening website told me that the Scabiosa plant produces a great deal of nectar and is popular for its ability to attract butterflies and bees.
The colour, which by the way I identify as pale lilac, is actually blue.
Hence Scabiosa being also known as the Butterfly blue. Am I colour blind?
The plant comes into flower between July and September and grows well in a rock garden or in a container.
This explains why it grows so well on my garden – there’s certainly no shortage of rocks.
The Scabiosa likes well-drained and neutral soil and can be divided in early spring, to make more Scabiosa plants. It can also be grown from cuttings.
Given how much I enjoy the sight of butterflies I might just try a couple of cuttings and see how they get on the butterfly garden I am creating at the moment.
To see how the butterfly garden is progressing click here.
To see more flowers from Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way click here.
Bye for now
Grace
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