How to Grow Bachelors Buttons Centaurea cyanus
Creating a Beautiful Garden with a Simply Beautiful Flower
May 7, 2009
More than just a simple blue flower, bachelor's buttons offer a wide range of colors for a carefree garden and landscape! For the best show, try planting them in solid color masses (pinks with pinks, blues with blue, etc.)
Preparing a Place for, and Planting Bachelor's Buttons
In an area that receives full sun, clear a garden patch large enough for the amount of seeds to be planted. Till the soil several inches deep while adding plenty of compost for added drainage and nutrition for the seedlings and plants. Once this is done rake the soil flat, making sure there are no large bumps and wads of compacted soil, as bachelor's buttons do best in well draining unobstructed soil.
Randomly scatter, or space the seeds 2 to 4 inches apart. Water well and keep the soil from drying out until the seedlings get several true leaves. Once established, bachelor's buttons are very drought tolerant and can withstand little to no additional watering even in hot, dry conditions. An easy way to tell that bachelor's buttons need water is when their leaves and flower heads seem wilted.
Transplanting Bachelor's Buttons
Making sure to get the full taproot and a goodly amount of soil simply replant the bachelor's buttons in full sun and water in very well. The plants may need to be watered a couple of times in a 2 to 3 day period until they recover from the shock.
Fertilizing Bachelor's Buttons
Probably not necessary as too much nitrogen will cause excess foliage growth and jeopardize the pretty, pert blooms. If one feels the need to fertilize try using a water soluble solution geared towards blooming plants.
How to Help Keep Bachelor's Buttons from Reverting Back to Blue
There are so many wonderful colors that come in a pack of mixed bachelor's buttons seeds; it would be a real shame to one day see nothing but a single color in the garden. The easiest way to ensure a good mix of colors is to isolate a few of each color in its own garden area. Simply keeping the colors away from each other should help to prevent cross pollination and ensure pinks stay pink and blues shine blue. It may not always work, but it sure can't hurt!
Trimming Bachelor's Buttons for Bushier Growth
The taller the plant; the more likely it is to topple under the weight of rain and heavy blooms. To keep bachelor's buttons from getting too leggy, simple pinch them back when they are young or cut them back to around 6-10 inches when they are older. Remember though, bachelor's buttons are annuals that need to bloom and go to seed to be able to come back the following year. If cut back too late in the season a person may not get the seed producing blooms needed for next year's crops. Make sure the plants have a few weeks recover in order to send out new blooms to produce seeds before being trimmed.
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