Botanical name: Knautia aventis     
Folk names: Bachelor’s buttons, gypsy rose

Type: Perennial

Wildlife: Another super star! High quality nectar for bees, and butterflies including Comma and Small-tortoiseshell. Nutritious pollen: especially helpful for bee larvae. Supports a wide range of pollinators including beetles and hoverflies. A top draw in my meadow planter for bumblebees and solitary bees. Specialist plant of the Small and Large Scabious Mining bees. Caterpillar food plant of moths including Lime Speck Pug and Shaded Pug moths . Finches eat its seed although I haven’t seen this yet.

Flowers: June to early October

Decorative merit: ‘Pinhead’ flowerheads filled with up to fifty tiny, soft mauve flowers. Stamens stick out prominently when mature but whither before the stigmas mature to avoid self-pollination. Long, branching stems grow from hairy basal leaves that remain through winter. Grows from 25cm to 1m high. Leaves prone to powdery mildew so water at root level until established.

Where: Sun or tolerates part-shade. Long stems make it suitable for middle of borders, mini meadows and verges. Lift and divide after a couple of years to contain the clump in your space (or not!) and renew vigour for the following summer.

Folklore: Used, historically, as a medicinal herb for skin conditions. Its Westcountry common name of ‘bachelor’s buttons’ relates to the practice of naming buds after eligible suitors and making a choice based on which formed the best flower.

Honeysuckle family relative of devilsbit scabious and teasel.

Donate seeds to Exeter Seed Bank