Centaurea 'Amethyst Dream' (Bachelor's Buttons) / RADIANT,😍 DARK Purple blooms Spring & Early Summer

Well hello and welcome to Oberty Best Nurseries on a sunny afternoon in early spring and here in this particular house we've got an unusual form of bachelor's buttons that I wanted to let you know about. This is Centauria Amethyst Dream, a selection that was introduced by Blooms of They have now changed the name to Roseanne and Friends and to Must-Have Perennials, so that if you're looking it up that's where you're going to find the background of it. Now what's neat about this is that it's a very hardy, easy to grow perennial that gets to about 18 inches to 2 foot high and in early summer produces these highly unusual, I suppose you could describe them as thristle-like flowers. It will flower first in early summer and then continue into mid-summer. This particular selection is a little bit more upright in its habit than some of the other forms that we've been growing. As far as soil conditions and light is required, it will grow really in a wide variety of situations. It will do very well in sunny locations and in partially shaded sites too, and you don't have to worry about soil conditions. Basically any type of soil, as long as it's not wet and soggy, you'll find that this will grow and prosper and put on a really good display. Now Centaurias kind of have a reputation, some of them, of being invasive. Here at the nursery we carefully work on the varieties that are well behaved, and in our experience growing this one, while it does spread some, it is not really aggressive in its spreading, and therefore we think that under normal circumstances you shouldn't have any issues growing this one. That said, I would still take a little bit of care with it, and perhaps plant it towards the middle or back of a border, or somewhere where you're not going to be too worried about it spreading out and perhaps taking over some of your weaker, thinner growing plants. So here's a plant that has these unusual brightly colored flowers, that incidentally make wonderful cut flowers, that once it's established is remarkably drought tolerant, it's not bothered by deer and rabbits and things like that, and if you're growing it in the garden, it doesn't do any harm to, around about mid-summer when it starts to look maybe a little bit disheveled, to go in with a pair of pruners and just shear it back to a few inches off the ground, and you'll find then that it will regrow and put on a lot of nice, young, strong growth before the fall. But it's really a perennial that's tough and hardy and easy to grow, that puts on a very good and very colorful display in early summer through to about mid-summer. This is Centauria Amethyst Dream.