Pincushion flower

This lovely perennial makes a great companion to many garden plants. Most commonly, the beautiful pincushion flower is found in lovely shades of sky blue, but keep an eye out for black-purple, shades of lilac, and pinks and white. Since these soft tones work well with so many different plants, it's easy to find a spot in any garden for pincushion flower. The foliage of pincushion flower is also fairly unobtrusive, forming a nice mat of growth with lightly dissected foliage that works well as a backdrop for this beautiful flower.

The easy elegance of the pincushion flower is matched in its equally easy growth requirements. Pincushion flowers grow best in well-drained soils and are fairly tolerant of drought. Heavy, wet soils can be the death of pincushion flowers, even if they seem fine during the growing season. If your area has issues with wet soils during the winter, you may want to treat pincushion as an annual.

For the best blooms, give pincushion flowers full sun. They can tolerate part sun, especially in the heat of the south, but will definitely perform best in full sun. In anything less, there is a possibility of powdery mildew, which isn't fatal, but is something to keep an eye out for. In part sun, the flower stalks can also become more stretched and may flop, so plant them around taller plants that they can lean on, if needed.

Because these plants are such prolific bloomers, cutting back old blooms can encourage continued blooms. Some pincushion flowers can seed about politely in the garden, nothing invasive, so you may find an errant seedling or two appear in your garden beds. Keep in mind that if you planted a named variety, these seedlings will not be quite the same as their parents.

Despite all of the wonderful attributes of these plants, they have had little work done with them. Part of this may be because of the already exceptional nature of the plants. Most of the work has been on making more dwarf plants and increasing the color variability. Some varieties have come out with beautiful reds, pinks, and even soft apricots. Some have been bred especially for the cut flower industry, looking for larger blooms on long stalks.

Scabiosa 'Butterfly Blue' blooms all summer with lavender-blue flowers on 16-inch-tall stems. Zones 3-8

Scabiosa caucasica bears flat, 2-inch-wide flowerheads with pincushion-like central florets surrounded by larger petal-like florets in pale blues, pinks, and white. These are carried on 2-feet-tall stems. Zones 4-9

The compact perennial Scabiosa 'Pink Mist' has airy blooms of light pink from April until frost. Zones 5-9

Phlox is a bounteous summer flower that any large sunny flowerbed or border shouldn't be without. There are several different kinds of phlox. Garden and meadow phlox produce large panicles of fragrant flowers in a wide assortment of colors. They also add height, heft, and charm to a border. Low-growing wild Sweet William, moss pinks, and creeping phlox are effective as groundcovers, at the front of the border, and as rock and wild garden plants, especially in light shade. These native gems have been hybridized extensively, especially to toughen the foliage against mildew problems; many recent selections are mildew-resistant. Phlox need amply moist soil for best overall health.

Easy and undemanding, veronicas catch the eye in sunny gardens over many months. Some have mats with loose clusters of saucer-shape flowers, while others group their star or tubular flowers into erect tight spikes. A few veronicas bring elusive blue to the garden, but more often the flowers are purplish or violet blue, rosy pink, or white. Provide full sun and average well-drained soil. Regular deadheading extends bloom time.

The quintessential cottage flower, pinks are treasured for their grasslike blue-green foliage and abundant starry flowers, which are often spicily fragrant. Depending on the type of pink, flowers appear in spring or summer and tend to be pink, red, white, rose, or lavender, but come in nearly all shades except true blue. Plants range from tiny creeping groundcovers to 30-inch-tall cut flowers, which are a favorite with florists. Foliage is blue-green. Shown above: 'Firewitch' dianthus

One of the longest bloomers in the garden, coreopsis produces (usually) sunny yellow daisylike flowers that attract butterflies. Coreopsis, depending on the variety, also bears golden-yellow, pale yellow, pink, or bicolor flowers. It will bloom from early to midsummer or longer as long as it's deadheaded.