Knautia, Field Scabiosa 'Thunder and Lightning'

One of my favorite flowering perennials in the garden, blooms non-stop all summer, tapering off at last in the fall. Attractive variegate...Read Mored foliage is full and bright, flowers are neat, color goes with most anything. I deadhead regularly which may help with the constant blooms. It grows in the hottest, driest part of the garden, with no wilting or sunscald so far. Overwintered just fine (zone 6a). I have been pleased enough to plant two more in other areas.

I planted two of these last summer--LOVE the color combination and would have gotten more but I was unsure of the zone ratings. Most say...Read More zone 5. That hasn't stopped me before, but I usually don't go whole hog until I'm sure they will work here. They looked wonderful and bloomed for quite a long time (I kept them deadheaded). It's too early for them to bloom yet this year, but the foliage is lovely - a full but tidy mound of beautifully variegated leaves. If they bloom anywhere near as well as they did last year, I'll be extremely happy.
Update - late June - everything is 3-4 weeks behind here because of our weird spring, but these are starting to bloom now. There are a lot of buds! In spite of 2-3 times normal rainfall, these do not appear to be unhappy like a lot of my other perennials.
Update - late August - these have bloomed nonstop all summer long. It did get a bit sprawly, but either more sun or dividing will probably take care of that. This is a plant I will always want in my gardens.

I planted 3 plants in zone 5b last year (2011). All 3 came up healthy this year, and have bloomed prolifically all summer. However, one...Read More plant came up completely unvariegated, and the other 2 have portions that are unvariegated.

When healthy, "Thunder & Lightning" is a lovely massive ground cover. However, in the wet and humid conditions of THIS summer, the plant...Read Mores have been prone to a powdery mildew and severe leaf rot. I've already had to completely replace one plant. Several plants are rotting away, while a few others seem to be maintaing their shape and flowers. Not sure if I would plant these again.