Mountain Cornflower

Mountain Cornflower
Centaurea montana 'Amethyst in Snow'
(sen-TAR-ee-uh) (MON-tah-nuh)
Synonyms: Mountain Bluet, Perennial Cornflower

This is a new variety for me. The contrast between the two colors is very eye catching. I will have to try some in the garden. One thing I like about Centaureas are the fact they are low maintenance and thrive in poor and somewhat dry soils. I have read that they will also live in part shade but don’t have any experience with that. The foliage is interesting as the leaves get quite long (6+ inches) and has kind of a silvery grey appearance. This plant was introduced in 2005 from the breeding work of Kees Sahin. The breeding on this genus is really starting to amaze me.

I don’t have much time to write today since I have to leave early. The people I am working with like to get to work early and leave late. They want me to pick them up at 5:30 am but that is just too early for me. I haven’t had time to respond to the comments here but I want everyone to know that I read them all and appreciate hearing what you have to say about the pictures and the flowers.

I have a planting job today. Here is a list of what we have to plant:

6 Dwarf Norway Spruce (Picea abies ‘Ohlendorffii’). These are about 3 feet high and 4 feet wide. 20-gallon pots.

3 Baby Blue Spruce (Picea pungens 'Baby Blue'). This tree has its own website . It is a seed grown strain of Blue Spruce. They are about 6 feet tall now. This is worst tree to plant as far as having sharp needles.

3 White Pines (Pinus strobus). 6-8 feet and heavily sheared.

Not too many trees except they have to go on top of a four-foot high stonewall into a narrow planting strip. They are some 10-foot tall ‘Hoopsi’ Blue Spruce planted up there already to add to the fun.