One of our favourite discoveries of recent years is stokesia, a member of the daisy family resembling a shorter, stockier cornflower. Throughout summer a profusion of striking, fringed flowers adorns the naturally rounded cushions of leathery, strap-like, semi-evergreen foliage. A magnet for bees and butterflies as well as excellent cut flowers, these unusual plants make an intriguing addition to the front of a border, edge of a path, or container display. For this collection we have brought together three exciting and different varieties. 'Divinity' has pure white flowers, 'Mels Blue' has violet, cornflower-blue blooms, and 'Mega Mels' is a showier, larger version of this with flowers reaching up to 10-12cm across. Stokesia is typically found towards the edge of conifer woods throughout SE USA. For best results, grow in fertile, moist, well-draining, neutral to acid soil in sull sun. Avoid areas prone to winter waterlogging, and provide a dry winter mulch if you can. Stokesia is hardy to between -5 and -10 C, so able to cope with the average UK winter. H: 40cm S: 40cm.
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