While I was visiting a garden center looking for something else, I noticed that butterflies were flocking above nice flower. It is a scabiosa or pincushion flower (Scabiosa columbaria – or “dueskabiose” in Danish). I bought one immediately – and after getting approval from the local authority several more.
The first half year has seen very few butterflies in my garden (and outside it too); not even the butterfly-bush, the lavender nor the flowering herbs could attract any. But as seen in above picture, it actually worked in my garden too.
This scabiosa is supposed to be perennial, but there is a gotcha that I didn’t realize until now that I have planted them: they prefer dry, chalky and unfertilized soil, and that does not go very well with my soil that is mostly clay and tends to be quite soggy during the winter. We will have to see if they survive and if not, then I will have to put more effort into preparing a spot for them.
Fun fact: the name of the pincushion flower (and other in the same genus) probably derives from the fact that it was used as folk medicine against scabies (Danish: fnat).
A note on butterflies: it is a small tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae – Nældens takvinge) which is supposed to be very common in gardens. It wasn’t. But last week has been warm and I guess it is time for the 2nd generation to fly, so they have suddenly become numerous again:
This is tortoiseshells in one of my butterfly-bushes, and there were about that many in all of them (they did follow the sun, though).