I planted some last year from a dollar store packet. I figured if I didn't like them, I only lost $0.25 - definitely the best quarter purchase I remember! They bloomed from the last week of June to the first week of August, but I didn't deadhead, so the foliage declined as they went to seed and I had other things filling in by then so I just composted them.

While they were blooming, the foliage was fine - not exciting, but not terribly weedy especially mixed in with coneflowers...

Or against the cosmos foliage...

And they were really, really blue.

Butterflies loved them, far cheaper than the dirt I planted them in (I had just amended that bed), cute in Fourth of July posies - they worked for me.

^^ The flowers are very pretty - love the color! Thanks for posting pics of the foliage, too -- they are helpful. I paid just over a buck for a packet, so hey no big deal if I don't like them -- but finding the right spot to try to enjoy them is always a good idea :0)

Jenn, your lovely photos make me want to try them this year! My mother planted dozens of mixed-color bachelor buttons for bridesmaid bouquets for one of my sisters back in 1974; they made airy, pretty bouquets for a simple end-of-summer wedding.

half an hour.. and the post just disappears ... argh ... im going all pirate on that BS ...

ill repost later ... ken

Hello all,

Ken, I know the frustration when you lose a post that you had invested time in. Sometimes when I know I have a lot of my time invested I will do a Ctrl-a to select everything and a Ctrl-c to copy that to the Clipboard, where it will remain reasonably safe until you power your computer down. A Ctrl-v will paste the contents of the Clipboard to where ever you are.

Back on the subject of Bachelor Buttons, I like their flower form, and fortunately for me some of my home-hybridized zinnias have a flower form that resembles a Bachelor Button.

Click on the photo for a larger version. Unfortunately I can't duplicate the blue color of Bachelor's Buttons into zinnias. There is no blue zinnia and the closest I can get is a bluish lavender or a bluish purple. In the brave new world of genetic modification there eventually will be blue zinnias, just like there are blue roses today. But gene transplants are beyond my abilities. Ctrl-A Ctrl-C (grin)

ZM

i used to wear them as Boutonnière in my sport coat button hole .... perhaps a bit eccentric .... but.. whatever.. shut up .. lol ..

easy reseeders but not aggressive.... depends on if you have finches.. and/or heavy mulch ...

easy to ID as seedlings ...

i bought the seeds once.. maybe around 85 .... and 2 houses later.. still have the progeny around ... just stored a few seeds in an envelop.. when i moved ...

over the decades... with the randomness of the genetic pool ... they will throw... white, pink and purple flowers every once in a while ... see pix above ...

they can get pretty ratty looking in the extreme heat of later august ... as long as they have gone to seed... just pull them early ...not to mention.. the birds can destroy them trying to land on them for the seeds ... but if they seeded.. they will be back .....

they just make me happy.. JUST DO IT ...

ken

^^ I will!

btw .. on thing that always fascinated me was that the perennial BButton... has the same flower.. writ large ....

and i always wondered why.. and never figured it out ... probably the easy answer ... they are in the same family ... go figure... its that easy .... i wonder if my love for her will fade... now that the mystery is gone .. lol ...

ken

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=perennial+bafchlor+button&t=ffcm&iax=images&ia=images

^^ I bought one last year (C. montana), and it was...not my thing, I didn't really like the flowers when they bloomed here; it no longer resides here - replaced it with a Caryopteris. When I moved here there was a huge clump of sky blue perennial BB's that I loved, but when I dug the clump to move it I let it sit too long in a bucket of water and it rotted (I forgot about it in all the madness I had to accomplish). Have never been able to find another one like it -- the only perennial ones I see for sale are the C. montana.

Same genus, Ken. Both Centaurea.

i never got the perennial to thrive good enough to give a good flower performance ... and as you note .... one or 2 random flowers arent worth it ...

ken

Actually, I grow 'Black Ball' (typically UK) or 'Black Gem' (US). But I did grow 'Blue Boy' this year with the Calendula and it was most enjoyable. I wish it would reseed here, but I haven't seen that yet. Maybe I pluck them without realizing what I'm plucking. Oops.

I grew centaurea gigantea for a few years... amazing GIANT bachelor button!