Thursday, October 9, 2008

White Pincushion Flower

  • One of my favorite summer flowers is Scabiosa, also known as Pincushion Flower. I think the common name suits it very well, and is ever so much nicer sounding than Scabiosa, wouldn't you agree? :-) This year I winter sowed seeds for a White variety, which I have enjoyed very much. It has been blooming strong.....even into these cooler fall days. I took all the photos below on the same day. The flowers were in four different stages on the plant, all at the same time.



The tightly packed flower bud, which resembles a pincushion.




The partially unfolded flower. I love the contrast of the white and the greenish center.




The flower in full bloom! Note the slender stamens inside each fold . . . they look rather like pins.




The handsome prickly seedhead. . . . still looking rather like a pincushion, don't you think?


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Pincushion flowers can be either Annual or Perennial, and I suspect this variety (which I obtained from a seed trade ) is an Annual, so I will save some seed to plant next year.



10 comments:

Melissa said...

Do you have enough to be willing to exchange? I've got anise hyssop, some borage (very little), maiden pinks, cornflower, love-in-mist (which I am sure you don't need), balsam (and maybe some more varieties but I would have to look first).

That would be my way of saying "I love it."

:)

joey said...

A beautiful sequence captured, Connie, and favorite that I look forward to seeing each year in my garden.

F Cameron said...

That's a beautiful scabiosa! I've had the blue for a few years and it even bloomed in the late winter with the foliage evergreen. I had to dig it out this year because I lost it due to crabgrass getting under the roots. I tried to save a bit; hopefully it will survive. Cameron

MrBrownThumb said...

What a great time lapse you captured here.

Anonymous said...

I love scabiosa, which is a beautiful flower, despite the unfortunate name. My Scabiosa 'Butterfly Blue' kept getting a bad case of mildew, so I ended up removing them.

Shady Gardener said...

I just planted the blue scabiosa this summer. I hope it grows and thrives. I really like your white variety. Does it grow taller than the blue? Nice sequence of photos. :-)

Anonymous said...

Yes, I agree with you on the name. I have blue ones, but no white. They are pretty!

Anonymous said...

Your post is always a treat! Thanks for sharing it with us!

Catherine said...

Oh, Connie, I have a fabulous recipe for green tomato mincemeat. I wish I had your green tomatoes!!! I don't have any, sadly. What a disappointing year for me in the tomato department.

Anonymous said...

Love your post you saved me a lot of angst trying to identify this alien looking bud in my "planter" I had given up on my seeds and planted sore bought tomato plants I saved 3 possible green things two turned out to be pincushion and one was a Cedric Morris poppy ! Good Times