Have you had your soil tested? If not you may want to check with your county cooperative extension office . Could be your soil quality . Kareen

My experience with these was that they didn't live up to the hype (did you read it in White Flower Farm's catalog?). It's not that unusual for the color to be somewhat unstable--I had the same thing happen. Make sure you don't overwater, as that will be their ruin. Don't know what you mean by flopping -- they are a short variety, and a little scruffy, not a tidy mound. They don't mind a moderate amount of fertility. Are they getting anything? If not, give them a little something and see if they improve.

Scabiosa likes a alkaline soil, so a soil test might indicate that some lime is needed. I have found that most all plant breeders are color blind. I have a Siberian Iris, 'Pink Haze' that has never been pink. Scabiosa should be deadheaded consisently.

My Butterfly Blues were a bright lavender blue color and very upright. The flowers, over somewhat scruffy/weedy foliage, swayed in the breeze a bit, but no drooping. Bloomed and bloomed and bloomed. Not a one returned the following spring and I had a bunch of them. Rather expensive failure.

I have no idea why your foliage would be droopy. My guess would be too much water. You could try digging them up and raising them a bit & refreshing the soil. I know this does wonders for heavy blooming Moonbeam coreopsis. As for the the non-blue blue one I would toss it & try another plant. They can be very pretty.

I planted 3 Pink Mist last year in my butterfly garden, because they were supposedly excellent butterfly plants. They didn't even bloom that well last year, I only ever saw one skipper on the flowers.

Only one of the three came back this year. I have pretty rich loamy soil in the butterfly garden, and many perennials and annuals do very well. So if a plant isn't going to thrive, then I won't waste any more time or money on it.

I'm not a fan of scabiosa. The flowers are cute and do look nice, but I don't care for the foliage - a weedy mess, if you ask me. When I had them I planted them at the back of the yard, and I got to enjoy the swaying flowers from a distance, but up close they were a mess, covered in mildew. I do recall that the blue variety was lavender, definitely not pink. Perhaps yours was mis-labeled - ?.

I really like my butterfly blue scabiosa. It bloomed for a long time last year and had pretty lavender flowers. It has come back well this year and is getting ready to bloom now. I haven't had any mildew problems with it. I don't know why yours are floppy or off color as I don't do anything to mine. I'd try another plant and maybe wait until they will be blooming so you can be sure of the color.

I have grown both the Butterfly Pink and Blue. I agree with ellen 7ny. I think there's a lot of hype surrounding these plants and they come up a bit short.

While I grew them, both stayed on the small side, and both the foilage and flowers were floppy. They were in amended clay soil, and got adequate sun. I deadheaded them, so I had bloom off and on all season. I recently saw some at a local nursery, and the plants were much larger than I remember mine ever getting. We moved, and I did not take them with me.

Someone sent me some seeds marked a mix of Butterfly Pink and Blue. Does anyone know if you can even grow them from seed? I don't want to waste time trying if the seeds are sterile.

Linda

They do grow from seeds, not great germination though.

Thanks for letting me know ngraham. Since I already have the seeds, and they were free, I will try them.

Linda

Thanks for all the info everyone- my plants finally have bloomed this year, and the blue one is more of a purple color this time, they even seem to be standing more upright, but they are still small. I guess I'll leave them where they are, while I agree they are not exactly what I expected, they are still alive, so I figure I'll let them do their thing... I sure won't be purchasing any more, even thought I too saw some at the local Lowes that are almost 3 times larger then mine. Perhaps the variety has gotten better over the years.. Thanks again!! Happy gardening!!!

Mine flower very heavily right through the summer, so I like that aspect. However, both years I planted them, not one made it through the winter. I just bought another set during Bluestone's half price sale so it will be pretty cheap over all - 13 dollars for six plants. I am amending the soil with one quarter sand and that should do it. They need extremely sharp drainage I found out.