The colourful counterpart to 'Black Knight'. The same domed pincushions on the same wiry 90cm stems, but in the full jewel range: deep blackcurrant, crimson, soft lavender, salmon pink and white, all flowering together from midsummer to the first frosts.
It is one of the hardest-working plants in a cutting patch. Cut-and-come-again in the truest sense, honey-scented on a warm day, and covered in butterflies, which use the flat dome as a landing platform. A short row will keep a household in flowers for four months.
Then the seed heads. Stop deadheading in late August and the central cushion elongates into an architectural globe that ripens through autumn and dries well for a winter arrangement. Before August, keep cutting, because a plant left to seed early stops flowering. Two conditions matter: full sun, and neutral to alkaline ground with real drainage, since scabious sulk and rot on heavy wet clay. And get the support in at 20 or 30cm, because 90cm stems in an August storm go flat and cannot be rescued afterwards.
