Scabiosa QIS Salmon Pink

Yes, cultivation is very easy, and the plant is ideal even for absolute beginners. It is an annual with a long flowering period from June to October, reaching a height of 60 to 90 centimeters. The flowers have a beautiful pastel pink color in shades of strawberry and salmon, and they have a delicate fragrance. It is a perfect flower for cottage and romantic gardens.

Scabiosa 'QIS Salmon Pink' absolutely loves the sun. Therefore, choose a fully sunny location in your garden where it will receive plenty of light for most of the day. As for the soil, the plant prefers standard loamy soil, but most importantly, it must be well-drained. It does not like being constantly waterlogged. When planting, maintain a spacing of 15 to 20 centimeters between individual plants.

For best results, we recommend starting indoors. Sow the seeds from January to May, ideally 4 to 6 weeks before the last expected frost. Place 1 to 2 seeds per cell. Important note: Scabious seeds need light to germinate! For this reason, do not cover them with soil, or cover them with only an extremely thin layer of substrate to prevent them from drying out. Keep the temperature between 18 and 21 °C; germination usually takes 6 to 12 days.

Although it is definitely recommended to start seedlings in warmth, direct sowing into the garden bed is possible. In that case, however, you must wait with sowing until the period when the last spring frosts have definitively passed. To achieve continuous flowering throughout the summer and autumn, we recommend carrying out successive sowings at intervals of 2 to 3 weeks.

Scabiosa is an excellent flower both for fresh bouquets and for drying. If you are cutting it for a vase, harvest the flowers when they are just beginning to open and are fully colored. They have a long vase life. For drying to use in autumn and winter decorations, you can cut fully bloomed flowers, as well as the spent seed heads, which are visually incredibly interesting.

Yes, and to a great extent! Scabiosa is an excellent nectar-rich plant, and thanks to its fragrant, nectar-filled flowers, it serves as a strong magnet for bees, butterflies, and bumblebees. If you want to support natural biodiversity and attract pollinators to your surrounding vegetables as well, Scabiosa is a great choice for any garden.

You can be completely worry-free. The plant (Scabiosa atropurpurea) is not toxic to humans, dogs, or cats. On the contrary, the flowers of the scabious are classified as edible. Their delicate petals are excellent for decorating sweet desserts, summer salads, or cold drinks.

Although seedlings must be planted outdoors only after the last spring frosts, mature and strong adult plants have quite decent hardiness in the autumn. They can withstand short-term frosts down to -5 °C. Thanks to this, they can grace your garden and provide flowers long after more delicate annuals have long since wilted.

In unsuitable conditions or with excessive moisture, fungal diseases such as powdery mildew or grey mold (Botrytis cinerea) may appear. Prevention involves maintaining proper spacing during planting so that air can circulate between the plants. As for insect pests, young succulent shoots are mainly attractive to aphids. You can use a nettle extract or a mild soap spray as a preventive measure against aphids; in case of a severe infestation, use proven commercial sprays.

This is a very common problem caused by a lack of light combined with high room temperatures. Seeds germinate at higher temperatures, but once the seedling grows, it must be moved to a cooler area (around 10 to 13 °C) and receive maximum light. If you cannot provide a cooler room for the plants (e.g., a glazed balcony or a bright hallway), we recommend using special grow lights.

Although the 'QIS Salmon Pink' variety is primarily grown as an annual (it usually dies back in winter), it has one amazing quality—it readily self-seeds in a favorable location. If you do not deadhead all the flowers, but let a few ripen and drop their seeds into the soil, you will most likely see new healthy seedlings in the spring that grow naturally on their own.

In English, this plant is commonly called the 'Pincushion flower'. This name perfectly describes its appearance. The center of the flower resembles a plump cushion from which fine stamens protrude, just like decorative pins stuck into a pincushion. This is even more striking in the 'Salmon Pink' variety, with its bubblegum and pastel pink color.