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Pincushions and Friends

© Jojo Sigurgeirson

Scabiosa columbiaria 'Butterfly Blue' - the Perennial Plant Association's Plant of the Year!

I hope this special recognition of this plant will bring about awareness and appreciation for Pincushion flowers of all kinds, as well is it's friends, the Knautias and Cepahlarias it is closely allied with.

For Latin Lovers
Scabiosa is easy to pronouce... (SCABBY-OSSA)
Knautia is a bit harder... (NOW-TEE-AH)
Cephalaria is downright ridiculous (SEFF-A-LAIR-EE-AH)

These aforementioned flowers are in the Dipsacaceae (DIP-SAY-SEE-AY) family. You might recognize a portion of that long word, Dipsa, as part of Dipsacus (DIP-SAH-CUSS), the latin name for the teasel (Dipascus inermus is the most common teasel). Funnily enough, this family is known as the Teasel Family. All Dipsaceous (DIP-SAY-SHUSS)plants.

About Pincushion Flowers
Today I will venture to point out the features and benefits of a garden spotted with these plants.

Pincushion flowers are one of the classic cottage garden flowers. Their hummock-forming habit and relatively small flowers produce wispy drifts of colour from a distance, working well between and in front of the taller plants of the cottage garden, such as Delphiniums and Yellow Loosestrife.

Upon closer inspection, each pincushion flower reveals myriad wonders of intricacy. So named for the pollen-bearing stamina that resemble pins that stick out of the flower in a dainty whorl pattern. The first pins come out of the middle. As the flower ages, the pins emerge closer to the outside of the flowers. My own pincushion does not look so neat. Usually when I'm sewing its a rushed affair involving single seams, no actually hemming as-such per-se, and very little in the way of pre-planning (ie: measuring pinning etc...) I can only wish I was more organized and patient, lining up my pins just like the beautiful pincushion flower.

Pincushion flowers such as the plain and simple Scabiosa caucasica grow to the standard 3 foot hummock. Their leaves grow to 2 feet tall. The flowers are suspending, nodding in the breeze, singly sticking out of the green. In a way these also look like pins, sticking out of the garden. Often in low light, or if the plant is moved around in the nursery too much, the flower stems will become twisted in such a way as to suggest a spring. This is not particularly attractive but I thought it might be worth mentioning because many plant shoppers see this as a positive trait, but unfortunately it is not one that will live on in the garden.

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