Devil's-bit Scabious - Succisa pratensis - Native Wildflower
| Type: | Perennial Wildflower |
| Approximate height: | Up to 50 cm to 1m |
| Flowering Time: | Summer into Autumn |
| Site and soil type: | It will grow in damp to reasonably free-draining soils in either sun or partial shade. |
| When to sow: | Late summer or autumn. The seeds need a period of cold before they will germinate. |
| Where to sow: | Outside, direct into soil or into modules or pots filled with compost. |
| Packet contents: | Approximately 100 seeds / 0.15 g |
Devil’s-bit Scabious, also known as Blue Scabious, Fore-bitten-more and Ofbitten has purple, pincushion-like flowerheads in summer into autumn.
In the wild it is found in many different habitats including hay meadows, heaths, woodland clearings and damp pastures.
It provides a nectar source for bees, hoverflies, moths and butterflies and is a food plant for caterpillars of various butterflies and moths including the rare Marsh Fritilllary butterfly.
Devil's-bit Scabious attracts / provides food for the following creatures:
- Bees
- Hoverflies
- Butterflies including Marsh Fritillary 🐛, Marbled White 🦋, Small, Large and Green-veined White butterflies 🦋, Red Admiral butterfly 🦋, Small Tortoiseshell 🦋, Brimstone 🦋 and Comma 🦋
- Moths including Forester moth 🦋, Clouded Buff moth 🐛, Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth 🐛, Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet moth 🦋 and Six-spot Burnet moth 🦋
- 🦇
- An "RHS Plants for Pollinators" plant **
All our seed packets include sowing instructions.
Jemima’s Garden seeds are plastic free and reyclable. They’re contained in an inner glassine envelope, (made from pine wood cellulose), and an outer Kraft paper seed packet. Any shipping packaging is also plastic free and recyclable.
Key to symbols:
🐛 A food plant for the caterpillar
🦋 Provides nectar for the adult moth or butterfly
🦇 Listed in: Bat Conservation Trust Encouraging bats, A guide for bat-friendly gardening and living
🦇 (RHS) Listed in the RHS Plants for Bats list
** RHS Plants for Pollinators. The RHS Plants for Pollinators mark is only given to plants that support pollinating insects. Find out more at rhs.org.uk/plantsforpollinators
** The Royal Horticultural Society, and its logo, are trade marks of The Royal Horticultural Society (Registered Charity No 222879/SC038262) and used under licence.