Cupid’s Dart

Welcome back! The cupid’s dart is getting ready to bloom in full force here, so I thought I’d take a minute and share this intriguing perennial with you. Cupid’s Dart (catananche) is a short-lived perennial, but it can self sow if you have open soil. We grow both the white and blue versions. In addition to the flowers, I also love the iridescent buds and seed pods after flowering. The buds and pods add a nice whimsical element to personal flowers.

These papery flowers close up at night, so don’t be alarmed if you harvest one day and find them closed up the next. They are close to the color of cornflower and you might think of them as a sort of larger, taller, less fussy bachelor button.

The flowers are about 2 inches across (smaller side), but they’re still a nice option in our perennial line up. And they take pretty much zero effort from us. They are drought tolerant and also seem to tolerate our heavy wet clay soil.

Our cupid’s dart did not bloom much first season, but once they experienced a winter they took off and produced prolifically after that. We are three seasons in with our plants. They’re not showing any signs of slowing down yet, here.

You can find seeds at Select Seeds. Links to Purple and White .