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Knautia macedonica

johnnypenstemonjohnnypenstemon Posts: 120
in Plants
Hi everyone

Does everyone struggle with this plant and/orhave any tips to keep it looking good?

A friend has one in her south-facing front garden which has been there about six years. This year it flowered amazingly well (it always does) and a bit earlier than usual. It also appeared to have less mildew than usual. And then she went away for a week and when she came home, had to pull up of it out as it looked grey and desperate. There are some fresh shoots so fingers crossed.

Any pointers appreciated.

Cheers and happy gardening, Johnny

Posts

  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    It does suffer from mildew when it gets really dry, l've found that cutting it back and keeping it well watered seems to help.
    I'm sure it will soon recover  :)

  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    It’s does fine here,  probably because it’s wetter here than most places.
    I have trouble getting it going from seed,  some sites say it’s sterile,  other say it grows from seed,  I’ve never had any luck even with what looks like viable seed.
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • SalixGoldSalixGold Posts: 450
    I find scabiosa beset by mildew
  • Songbird-2Songbird-2 Posts: 2,349
    We have grown this plant for many years, as the flowers are a firm favourite of ours( and the bees). However, they have always succumbed to mildew eventually. When we moved to our present house we brought one with us and that got mildew too and started to look terrible so we disposed of it. However, we have bought three more since and have planted them around the garden in different aspects. Sunny/semi shade etc. 
    They are a drought tolerant plant and can also tolerate (some )shade. The one that is in the most sun is now getting mildew. One is in semi shade and the other one almost all shade...they have no mildew and get very little watering. So ( more) shade and almost no watering seems to work in our garden.
    Perhaps your friends plant is getting too much sun now? She could try purchasing another one and plant it out where there is more shade and see how it does? Also, watering around the bottom of the plant ( underneath the leaves)  rather than from above ,over the leaves, seems to be better for us too. Good luck.
  • Mrs-B3-Southampton,-HantsMrs-B3-Southampton,-Hants Posts: 732
    Mine's got mildew and greenfly, although the ladybirds have eventually turned up. Yes needs lots of water if in full sun.
    Southampton 
  • johnnypenstemonjohnnypenstemon Posts: 120
    Songbird-2 said:
    We have grown this plant for many years, as the flowers are a firm favourite of ours( and the bees). However, they have always succumbed to mildew eventually. When we moved to our present house we brought one with us and that got mildew too and started to look terrible so we disposed of it. However, we have bought three more since and have planted them around the garden in different aspects. Sunny/semi shade etc. 
    They are a drought tolerant plant and can also tolerate (some )shade. The one that is in the most sun is now getting mildew. One is in semi shade and the other one almost all shade...they have no mildew and get very little watering. So ( more) shade and almost no watering seems to work in our garden.
    Perhaps your friends plant is getting too much sun now? She could try purchasing another one and plant it out where there is more shade and see how it does? Also, watering around the bottom of the plant ( underneath the leaves)  rather than from above ,over the leaves, seems to be better for us too. Good luck.
    Many thanks for the helpful replies. Your positioning experiment was fascinating and revealing Songbird, I’ll be advocating to my friend that she tries one in a shadier aspect. And avoiding the leaves when watering when possible is always an excellent idea.
  • Songbird-2Songbird-2 Posts: 2,349
    👍 @johnnypenstemon, good luck to your friend.🙂
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