Plant Guide

Description:

This summer long bloomer forms a compact mound of grey-green leaves bearing flowers ranging from red to violet-pink, that open in succession over several months; removing spent blooms promotes new blooms; terrific for edging sunny borders or in containers

Ornamental Features

Melton Pastels Scabious features airy cherry red pincushion flowers with pink overtones at the ends of the stems from late spring to late summer. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its narrow leaves remain grayish green in color throughout the season.

Landscape Attributes

Melton Pastels Scabious is an open herbaceous perennial with an upright spreading habit of growth. It brings an extremely fine and delicate texture to the garden composition and should be used to full effect.

This is a relatively low maintenance plant. Trim off the flower heads after they fade and die to encourage more blooms late into the season. It is a good choice for attracting butterflies to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Melton Pastels Scabious is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Border Edging
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Melton Pastels Scabious will grow to be about 14 inches tall at maturity extending to 20 inches tall with the flowers, with a spread of 14 inches. It tends to be leggy, with a typical clearance of 1 foot from the ground, and should be underplanted with lower-growing perennials. It grows at a fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 3 years. As an herbaceous perennial, this plant will usually die back to the crown each winter, and will regrow from the base each spring. Be careful not to disturb the crown in late winter when it may not be readily seen!

This plant does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in average to dry locations, and dislikes excessive moisture. It is considered to be drought-tolerant, and thus makes an ideal choice for a low-water garden or xeriscape application. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Melton Pastels Scabious is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. With its upright habit of growth, it is best suited for use as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.