You may know the Centaurea plants as cornflowers, bachelor’s buttons or basket flowers and you may have even heard your Grandma or Great Grandma call them blue-bottles. Originating in Europe, they’ve been grown in American gardens since the Colonial times. Interestingly, this genus name comes from Greek mythology where one of the tamer, as opposed to war-like, centaurs first used this plant to heal his own wounds and then taught mankind about the healing powers of herbs.
Centaurea (pronounced cen-TAR-ee-ah) is an herbaceous plant with a thistle-like flower. Producing both single and double fringed blooms on plants that range in height from 10 to 30”, its leaves are spineless, unlike the thistle, and they are highly appreciated for their long-lasting beauty in fresh and dried cut flower arrangements. Centaurea are drought-tolerant and do best with infrequent watering. Deadheading will encourage more prolific blooming.
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