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Centaurea nigra (Black Knapweed)

£4.50
Aspect:
Full Sun
Soil Type:
Most Types
Colour:
Pink
Colour:
Black
Centaurea nigra (Black Napweed)
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Plant Overview

A British native of clay soils and meadows. Black buds opening to deep pink blooms in summer.

A tough, attractive, and easily grown hardy perennial native flower. It's a superb wildlife plant as the flowers are rich in nectar and pollen, and attract bees, butterflies, and moths, while the seed heads are popular with seed-eating birds such as goldfinches.

Grow in a wildflower meadow or wildlife area or in a bed or border.

Traditionally, eligible young women would play a love-divination game by pulling out the rays and putting the plucked knapweed flower in their blouse. When as-yet unopened florets began to bloom it would tell her the man of her dreams was near. The flower was also used to heal cuts and bruises. 

Height and Spread: 50cm x 30cm.

Common names: Common Knapweed; Black Knapweed; Chimney Sweep's Brushes; Bull Thistle; Drummer Heads; Shaving Brush; Hardheads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo: Xemenendura, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

All our plants are supplied in 9cm pots unless otherwise specified. Plants in this size pot establish quickly in the garden and often outpace plants in bigger pots planted at the same time. Our potted plants can be planted immediately, unless otherwise noted, or you can leave them in their pots until you are ready to plant.
The majority of our plants are grown outdoors. This means that they follow their natural growth patterns and are ready to plant at any time of the year. If you order the plants in winter, they are likely to be dormant and died back to ground level, ready to shoot again in spring - just like the herbaceous perennials in your own garden. Very occasionally, in winter and early spring, we may indicate on the packing slip that a plant needs to be hardened off before planting out. This will be because it has just come out of a polytunnel. If you have any questions about our plants or growing methods, please feel free to drop us an email.
We grow most of what we sell ourselves, in our nursery in the Buckinghamshire countryside. Our prices include VAT at 20%.
Please note: We do our best to provide acurate photographs of the plants we sell, but colours display differently on different screens, printers and in different light and we cannot guarantee that what you are seeing on your screen, or on the plant label provided, will exactly match the plant when it flowers in your garden. Plant dimensions are given as a guide only and the actual sizes reached may vary from garden to garden, depending on local conditions.
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