GARDENING August in the flower garden

Knautia varieties add colour and height, attract butterflies and bees, and feed birds in the winter.?Pic: Flickr.com/sootyskye

Knautia but nicely enticing


Patsy O’Sullivan

It is always a gardener’s boon to have good hardy plants that need little care and keep coming back year after year. One of these is Knautia Macedonica.
This perennial plant grows to about one metre and has numerous brilliant crimson flowers that look like pincushions. They have plentiful nectar and so are very good for enticing bees and butterflies into the garden. It also has attractive seed heads that will feed birds throughout the winter and look good as they fade. Other varieties of knautia (scabious) vary in colour from pink to bluish mauve and can be used in many colour combinations.
One advantage of Knautia Macedonica is that it does not need staking and if the plants are planted about 30cms apart they will spread out to cover the area and the rosettes of leaves at the base of the plant, from which the stems arise,cover the ground and crowd out weeds. The rosettes keep on expanding and within a few years they can grow to a large clump. They are easily cut back though if they do begin to take over the show.
Knautia will grow well in clay soil but is not very choosy so does well in a variety of soils but it does need moisture so add compost. It likes a sunny position and will look better where it can spread out as it can reach up to a meter across in time.
The flowers last up to two weeks and will keep coming from mid summer into the autumn. They make attractive cut flowers for the house. The stems act as a transparent screen allowing one to see through to other parts of the garden.
Knautia Macedonica looked good planted with  the peachy flowers of Alstrolomeria when I visited Mountstewart Gardens near Belfast recently. It also looks good with Hemerocalis or the mauve flowers of annual lavatera.
The plant can be propagated by using the seed heads and planting in early spring. They can also be started off now if you have ripe seed heads and the young plants planted out in the autumn. Softwood cuttings can be taken in April, or may or basal cuttings can be taken from now on.

Garden tasks for August
As this is the time for holidays and summer visitors and for enjoying our own gardens, the list of tasks is limited this month.

• With the extra rain a lot of foliage is getting very lank and flowers are drooping. All the larger flowers such as gladioli, hollyhocks, poppies, delphiniums need staking.
• Roses, lupins, wallflowers, sweet peas and other flowers need deadheading in order to extend the flowering.
• Cut back perennial poppies hard when they have stopped flowering and become lank. They will shoot again from the base.
• Take cuttings of your favourite wallflowers.
• Pinch out the main shoots of lavender, rosemary and bergamot which will encourage side shoots to develop producing bushier plants.
• Harvest lavender and other herbs for drying on a warm, dry morning. Place them upside down in a paper bag and leave in a warm dark place for several weeks to dry.

Patsy O’Sullivan is a member of Ballinrobe Garden Club. The club has taken a break from its monthly meetings for the summer, but will start again on September 6 in Gannon’s Hotel, Ballinrobe, at 7.30pm. The club’s aim is to learn and share information about growing flowers, fruit and vegetables, and it’s membership is a mix of experienced growers and beginners.