Knautia macedonica Melton Pastels - Macedonian scabious

Knautia macedonica 'Melton Pastels' is a light and generous perennial that enlivens sunny borders with its pastel pompons from early summer until the first frosts. This small Macedonian scabious offers a whole palette of pinks, mauves, raspberry and salmon. It is nectar-rich and brings a very natural feel to mixed borders and beds. Undemanding and hardy, it finds its place in unpretentious gardens or a large container on the terrace.

Botanically, Knautia macedonica 'Melton Pastels' belongs to the Caprifoliaceae family. The wild form Knautia macedonica, called Macedonian knautia or small Macedonian scabious, is a perennial or biennial plant native to Southeastern Europe, the Balkans, from southeastern Romania to Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, North Macedonia and European Turkey. In the wild, it colonises dry meadows, roadsides and calcareous slopes in full sun.
The 'Melton Pastels' selection is a mix of pastel colours, sometimes sold under the names Scabiosa rumelica ‘Melton Pastels’, Knautia arvensis ‘Melton’s Pastels’ or under the mix name ‘Watercolours’. It has received the Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society, a guarantee of reliability in the garden.
The plant forms a basal rosette of dark green, 8 to 15 cm long, entire or pinnate leaves, slightly hairy to the touch. From this rosette, slender, branching stems emerge in spring to carry the flowers well above the foliage. The flowering stems rise to a height of 70–90 cm. The solitary flower heads at the stem tips measure 3 to 4 cm in diameter and resemble a small pincushion: the tight centre of tubular flowers is surrounded by flatter florets. The foliage is deciduous to semi-evergreen depending on the climate: it may disappear completely in winter in cold regions, while it often remains as a low rosette where winters are mild. Flowering lasts from June to September, or even until October if faded flowers are regularly removed. The nectar-rich inflorescences are pollinated by numerous insects (bees, bumblebees, hoverflies, butterflies). After flowering, the dried flowers remain decorative for a while and bear small achenes that ensure some self-sowing. The deep taproot of this scabious gives it good drought resistance but it does not tolerate late transplanting well.

In the garden, plant Knautia 'Melton Pastels' in light clumps in the middle or at the front of a perennial border, in a flowering meadow or in a cottage garden. It can be combined with Achillea millefolium 'Peachy Seduction', purple toadflax Linaria purpurea ‘Canon J. Went’, with its very airy pale pink spikes, and Eryngium planum topped with small steel-blue thistles. In all cases, you benefit from a long flowering period and a very lively plant, always animated by pollinating insects. Its light flowers lend themselves well to rustic cut flower arrangements or even as dried flowers.

The Knautia genus is named after the German botanists Christoph and Christian Knaut, and in several European languages these flowers are associated with the popular name "widow's flower", a reminder of their former use in funeral bouquets.