The Gorgeous Blue Flower That'll Thrive In Your Vegetable Garden

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Blue flowers are fairly uncommon in the natural world, so adding them to your landscape provides instant visual interest. They also boost your garden's bee appeal. Scientists aren't sure why these pollinators adore blue, but it's clear that they prioritize it. Growing blue flowers in your vegetable garden can assist squash, cucumbers, and other cucurbit plants, which rely on bees to pollinate their flowers. Bees can also help tomato plants grow larger fruit. In addition to bringing all the bees to your garden, bright blue cornflower (Centaurea cyanus) is simple to grow. Sometimes called bachelor's button or bluebottle, this annual excels in USDA hardiness zones 2 through 11, making it a beloved garden resident throughout most of the United States.

So, what's not to love about cornflower? Profuse reseeding. As a close relative of knapweed, cornflower can proliferate beside roads and in grassy areas. Keeping its weedy tendencies in check is essential should you choose to grow it. Putting it in pots and deadheading the flowers when they start to fade can discourage it from taking over your garden. Since cornflower is considered invasive in Georgia and West Virginia, do not plant it there and remove any that pop up in your yard. Growing it elsewhere in the U.S. is fine.

Giving cornflower plenty of what it needs can help it attract lots of pollinators to your vegetable garden. Luckily, cornflower grows easily since it's not fussy about its planting site. This plucky flower will thrive whether you give it lots of direct sunlight or several hours of shade each day. It can handle clay-heavy soil, needs no fertilizer, and doesn't mind a somewhat acidic pH level. Deer don't even disturb it. Though mealybugs are occasionally an issue, cornflower rarely attracts pests, even in veggie gardens plagued with squash bugs or cabbage loopers. Mealybugs are typically drawn to plants that receive too much water or fertilizer. They look like tiny blobs of cotton and leave a white, waxy residue on plants. An infestation may also cause your cornflowers to wilt. A spray, such as Natria neem oil spray for plants, can knock them out when applied weekly. You can even plant a neem tree in your garden to repel these pesky invaders.

Ready to beckon a bunch of bees and butterflies? Sow cornflower seeds right where you'd like them to grow — next to squash vines, for instance. As long as water drains adequately and warm weather is imminent, they should germinate. To grow cornflower in containers to place near your veggies, sow seeds into two parts peat-free potting soil mixed with one part builders sand. Water the soil, then watch the plants grow to a height of 1 to 3 feet. If the tallest specimens flop over, support them with stakes. Or try supporting your tall plants with foam pool noodles.