Centaurea montana Purple Heart

Centaurea montana 'Purple Heart' is one of these new varieties of cornflower that revisit this robust perennial so widespread in gardens. Surprisingly vibrant but with a real elegance, the flowers of 'Purple Heart' display a beautifully highlighted violet-purple centre, surrounded by peripheral petals like white trumpets, glazed with a blue candy hue at their tips. The reputation of the mountain cornflower is well established: it grows everywhere, in heavy or light soils, in the sun or in the shade. It is making a strong comeback with new colours that are hard to resist!

Native to the mountains of Europe, Centaurea montana is a herbaceous perennial plant of the Asteraceae family that develops from trailing rhizomes. This medicinal and ornamental plant has been cultivated for a long time in all gardens where it self-seeds spontaneously. It is a plant that prefers calcareous and clay soil with a rocky tendency. Its deciduous foliage disappears in winter. 

The 'Purple Heart' cultivar, from which it originates, has identical foliage, pubescent, giving it a woolly appearance, especially on the underside of the leaves. It forms spreading clumps, up to 60 cm (24in) tall when in flower, 30 cm (12in) for the foliage, and 40 cm (16in) wide, or even more with age, as it spreads through its trailing rhizomes. Its leaves are 5 to 6 cm (2in) long, lanceolate in shape, with entire edges, and their colour is a green tinged with grey. The flowering takes place from spring to summer, lasting 2 to 3 months, earlier or later depending on the regions. The floral bud is an involucre composed of tight bracts, somewhat resembling a small artichoke.  Flowers carried by stiff stems of 50-60 cm (20-24in), reveal the uniqueness of this selection. These are large heads, 5 cm (2in) in diameter, with a mauve and purple centre striped with black, surrounded by longer petals in a white-blue colour.  It is a nectar-producing plant that produces high-calorie pollen, highly appreciated by pollinating insects, especially bumblebees.

Centaurea montana 'Purple Heart' is a perennial plant that is perfect in a countryside setting or in a natural border. Showcase it against a backdrop of Allium azureum, where this perennial cornflower will not go unnoticed.  A historic plant of wild and romantic gardens, the perennial cornflower is also highly appreciated in more contemporary compositions. It is also a plant that is well suited to an alpine garden, where it can accompany, for example, rockroses and red valerian. 'Purple Heart' pairs wonderfully with the blue flowers of the species, purple or pink centaureas, or even with the incredible blue of the wild chicory. It can also be accompanied by small grasses such as Stipa or golden-leaved Carex. It will find its place in a rockery,  a border, along paths or lawns, and in the creation of beautiful country bouquets or for dried flowers.