Knautia Melton Pastels

Knautia is a border plant that behaves like a weaver rather than a clump. Thin wiry stems push up through whatever is around them and carry small pincushion flowers a metre or so above the ground, so the colour appears to float without any obvious plant beneath it.

'Melton Pastels' gives a range rather than a single shade — deep crimson through salmon and coral to soft dusky lilac, all from one packet. Planted through grasses or among taller perennials the effect is meadow-like and very hard to achieve with anything more solid.

It is exceptional for bees and butterflies, flowers from June until autumn if you keep deadheading, and copes with dry chalky ground that defeats a lot of perennials. Expect flowers in its second year from seed.