Devil's-bit scabious

Sun

Full sun or light partial shade; flowering is best in sun where the soil stays moist.

Water

Keep evenly moist while establishing. Established plants tolerate brief dry spells, but prolonged summer drought reduces growth and flowering.

Soil

Moist, humus-rich soil that does not remain stagnant or waterlogged. Tolerates clay and a broad range of soil pH, including acidic soils.

Height

2-3 ft (0.6-0.9 m)

Spread

1-1.5 ft (0.3-0.45 m)

Flowers

Late summer to autumn; rounded violet-blue to blue-purple flower heads, occasionally pink or white.

Foliage

A basal rosette of oval to lance-shaped green leaves, with smaller opposite leaves on the flowering stems.

Growth

Moderate; usually takes two or three growing seasons to form a substantial clump.

Care needed

Low

• Pollinators
• Cold hardy
• Wildlife
• Low allergen

Northern hemisphere months. In Australia, shift them by six.

Difficulty

Easy

Toughness

Fairly tough

Pick your zone, country, light and whether you have pets.

1. Planting day

   1 ft (0.3 m)

2. After 1 year

   1.5 ft (0.45 m)

3. After 2 years

   2 ft (0.6 m)

4. After 3 years

   2.5 ft (0.75 m)

   full size

About 3 years to full size.

From a typical nursery size, at an average rate for this kind of plant. A rule of thumb, not a forecast.

Cats and dogs

Safe

Native to

the UK

Growth rate

Moderate

• Water newly planted clumps during dry weather through their first growing season.
• During prolonged summer drought, water deeply rather than giving frequent light sprinklings.
• Apply a light leaf-mould mulch in spring, keeping it clear of the crown.
• Avoid rich feeding, which can produce floppy growth and favour competing grasses.
• Divide crowded clumps in spring if flowering declines; routine division is not necessary.

Pruning. Leave the flower stems standing through autumn if you want seed and winter structure. Cut old stems back to the basal rosette in late winter or early spring, taking care not to damage new leaves.

Early spring

Cut away old flowering stems and remove weeds from around the basal rosette.

Spring

Plant or divide clumps, water thoroughly and add a light leaf-mould mulch.

Summer

Water during prolonged dry spells, especially where plants compete with grasses.

Late summer

Allow flowers to remain for pollinators; remove fading heads only if you need to limit self-seeding.

Autumn

Collect ripe seed when the heads turn brown and sow it promptly outdoors.

Late autumn

In a meadow planting, cut after seed has fallen and remove the cut material to keep soil fertility low.

• Thread through a damp meadow with fine grasses for scattered late-season colour.
• Plant in loose groups in an informal border with great burnet and purple moor-grass.
• Use on the upper edge of a pond or rain garden, above the permanently flooded zone.
• Include in a sunny wildlife border to extend the supply of nectar into autumn.

Garden styles it suits: Wildflower, Cottage garden, New perennial (prairie), Wildlife garden, Pollinator garden and Rewilded.

Plant it with: Great burnet, Purple moor-grass, Tufted hair-grass, Meadowsweet, Ragged robin and Sneezewort.

Wildlife: Flowers provide nectar and pollen for bees, hoverflies and butterflies late in the season. In Britain and parts of Europe, the leaves are an important food plant for marsh fritillary butterfly caterpillars, though attracting this butterfly depends on suitable habitat and a nearby population.

• Slugs and snails can damage young spring growth; check plants after dark and remove pests by hand.
• Powdery mildew may develop during dry weather; water the root zone and improve airflow around crowded plants.
• Poor flowering and weak stems often follow heavy feeding or deep shade; stop fertilising and move plants to a brighter position.
• Summer drought can cause wilting and premature browning; water deeply and mulch lightly to conserve moisture.

Not known to be toxic to people, cats, dogs or horses. No particular part is recognised as poisonous, but species-specific safety information is limited; do not treat it as an edible plant.

• Field scabious (Knautia arvensis)

  Usually has flatter, broader lilac flower heads with noticeably enlarged outer florets, and deeply divided upper leaves. Devil's-bit scabious has more rounded heads and undivided leaves.

• Small scabious (Scabiosa columbaria)

  Has finely divided stem leaves and flatter flower heads with larger outer florets. Devil's-bit scabious has simple leaves and a more compact, rounded flower head.

Succisa means 'cut off', referring to the abruptly ending rootstock that folklore said the devil had bitten away, while pratensis means 'of meadows'.

Propagation. Sow fresh seed in autumn in pots or trays outdoors, protected from disturbance. Germination can be slow and uneven, and winter cold may help; keep the compost moist and retain ungerminated trays through the following spring. Divide established clumps in spring.

Accepted botanical name

Succisa pratensis

In the US and Canada

Introduced in Canada and the lower 48 states.

Native range

Albania, Algeria, Altay, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Rus, Czechoslovakia, Denmark and East European Russia.

Measured

Soil pH 5.5 to 6.5. Average height 15 cm.

Sources: GBIF (CC BY 4.0), USDA PLANTS and Trefle (CC BY 4.0). The care and design notes are LandscapeGPT's own.