Catananche caerulea White
Papery petals are what make Cupid's dart worth a place. The white form of Catananche caerulea opens flat, fringed flowers about 4 cm across, white with a small dark violet eye, on thin wiry stems that hold them well above a low tuft of narrow grey-green leaves. The petals have a dry, straw-like feel even while fresh. Flowering runs December to March.
The see-through stems mean it can go near the front of a border without hiding anything behind it. Cupid's dart belongs in gravel gardens, dry sunny beds, cottage planting and anywhere with lean soil, and it earns extra value as a cut flower. Picked just as the flowers open, the heads dry almost unchanged and keep for months.
Full sun and sharp drainage are the requirements. Poor, stony and dry ground suits it, and it flowers well on the thin soils where richer perennials struggle. Wet winter soil is what kills it, so improve heavy clay with grit or plant on a slight rise. Expect three to five good years rather than a lifetime, and take cuttings or sow seed to keep it going.
Forms a clump 0.5 to 1 m tall in flower and around 0.3 to 0.5 m across.
Trimming: Cut the flower stems back to the leaf tuft once the last heads finish. Leave the low foliage alone over winter, as it protects the crown, and clear anything dead in early spring.
Deadheading: Deadhead through the season to keep new buds coming. Leave the final flush to ripen if you want seed, since raising a few replacements every couple of years is the way to keep this plant in the garden.
Fertilising: Do not feed. Cupid's dart is a lean-soil plant and fertiliser produces soft growth, weak stems and a shorter life.
Watering: Water to establish in the first summer, then rely on rainfall. It is properly drought tolerant and far more likely to be lost to winter wet than to summer dryness.
Pest Control: Slugs and snails can take the young crowns in a wet spring, especially on newly planted stock. Aphids occasionally appear on flower stems.
Disease Management: Root and crown rot in cold wet soil is the main risk and is a drainage problem rather than a treatable disease. Powdery mildew may mark the leaves late in a humid season.
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