Good filler plant, will reseed readily but easy to control. Reblooms if first flush is cut to ground when ratty. Not fussy about care.

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The airy, "spidery" flowers bloom continuously from May through July in my New York garden, rising out of cone-like buds that are interesting in and of themselves, even when the petals fall. It does especially well in poor alkaline soils. It has usually stayed in place in my garden, but is considered invasive by one of my neighbors, who welcomed me to dig up as many as I wanted from his garden -- and I did!

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This is a very reliable performer in my zone 5 garden. I often get a second, lighter blooming period if deadheaded after the spring bloom. It will self-seed, but is not terribly aggressive. The blue color is amazing, and adds great color to the spring garden.

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Brightens up the early spring garden and looks better every year! One really wet spring my centaurea up and died of some black mold type disease, but I cut it down to the ground, sprayed it with copper fungicide, and applied fresh compost, and it came back a week later looking great. Very tough plant. It's an old variety that I remember my mother growing when I was a child 50 years ago in zone 5. It does just as well in zone 8, where I am now. I will always have one of these in my garden.

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Valuable source of nectar and pollen for honey bees.

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This Perennial Bachelor's-Button is native to Europe. I see it only occasionally in the yards of those homeowners that have a strong interest in flower gardening. It is more likely to be found in some public gardens, as I found a number in the big perennial garden at the grounds of the Reading Museum in that Pennsylvanian city. Some can be bought in those conventional garden centers and/or nurseries that offer a large selection of perennials. It is an erect, stoloniferous, clump-forming perennial with solitary blue cornflowers in late spring. If one prunes away the spent flower stalks, the plant can sparsely rebloom in September. It bears lance-like leaves to 7 inches long. It is known to spread quickly. It is recommended in classical perennial garden culture to dig up and reset every 2 to 3 years.

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