Garden Bloggers' Blooms Day: Scabious 'Kudos Purple'

New garden plant for 2017: Scabious 'Kudos Purple'

I haven't grown many new-to-me plants in the garden this year; most of those delights are currently up at the allotment for my Flowers for Mum project. The exception is the pictured scabious 'Kudos Purple', a plant I've trialled courtesy of Thompson & Morgan (T&M) via February's Garden Press Event.

I'm having a bit of a 'Should've gone to Specsavers' moment because none of my plants are purple, but pink, and a look at T&M's online catalogue confirms they are indeed... er, pink. Why not call them 'Kudos Pink' then?!?

They've been rather shy to bloom too, preferring to fill out their pots with plentiful healthy foliage instead. They started flowering around three weeks ago, where they've been a welcome addition on the patio and making up for lost time. I'm dithering whether to plant them out in the garden now, or wait until they've finished flowering. They'll look grand in the sunny spot waiting in the lower terrace bed.


Whilst I dither, it's good to see they're getting the seal of approval from the local bee population.

 Garden Bloggers' Blooms Day is hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

Update - 16th October 2017

Pink scabious flower now faded to pale lilac

I've found a flower which has faded to lilac, which makes me wonder if this is the source of the purple naming. However, a conversation with Richard in the comments this morning with subsequent googling reveals T&M also have a 'Kudos Pink' in their catalogue and it's clearly derived from their original 'Kudos Purple' entry. I've emailed T&M to ask them to clarify the matter.

Comments

  1. Sue Garrett15 October 2017 at 09:22

    The top photos looks a purplish pink. I always think many planted described a blue are really purple. Maybe we all see colours slightly differently. Going off on a tangent, I have often wonder how eyes and colour work whether what I call yellow and someone else calls yellow are seen by us both in the same way. Could explain why some people, love a certain colour and some don’t like it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP15 October 2017 at 11:11

      We do indeed see colours differently Sue - I agree there is a hint of purple there, but insufficient according to my eyes to call it purple ;) I see we had a chat about this when there was all that hoo ha about that dress, do you remember?

      http://vegplotting.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/some-thoughts-on-thedress-and-gardening.html

      What I didn't mention at the time was how our eyes change over time... I remember someone telling me that red is the last colour to 'go' in the elderly and mum definitely reacts to bright colours in particular (she's 89) which I'm sure is because she can see them more clearly.

      Delete
  2. VP15 October 2017 at 11:57

    It's also interesting to see that S 'Kudos White' has the tiniest hint of pink if you take that link to the catalogue. Sadly none of my white trial plugs survived to the planting out stage :(

    ReplyDelete
  3. gz15 October 2017 at 14:41

    I love seeing these growing wild

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP15 October 2017 at 15:08

      Oh yes so do I :) We have them up on the Downs not far from here.

      Delete
  4. Richard Loader16 October 2017 at 09:11

    I have photographed Kudo Pink and Kudo White for Fairweathers Nursery, was not aware of a Kudo Purple - hoping Sharon of Fairweathers might come here and shed some light. I wonder if T&M were using a little imagination in this one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP16 October 2017 at 09:23

      It does look that way Richard. Does 'Kudos Pink' fade to a pale lilac? I spotted one of my first blooms had done that yesterday and I wonder of this is the source of the purple naming. Having said that, 'Kudos Lilac' would be a better descriptive name of what actually happens, particularly if it is indeed a different cultivar to 'Kudos Pink'. I hope this isn't another example of companies adding their own commercial name to an existing named cultivar which helps to confuse poor gardeners like me.

      Delete
    2. VP16 October 2017 at 09:36

      Interesting! I've just googled 'Kudos Pink' and T&M lists this separately and when I look at the description, it says 'Kudos Purple'! Their listing of 'Kudos Purple' has most of the description missing, but uses the same photo as they've used for 'Kudos Pink'. It's interesting that you've called the cultivar 'Kudo', Richard and I see this is what a number of nurseries are calling it. I'm now totally confused, did I grow a renamed 'Kudo', or are the 'Kudos' cultivars a different selection again? Time for an email to T&M methinks...

      Delete
  5. Anna16 October 2017 at 21:19

    I bought a definitely lovely purple scabious earlier this year but can't remember its name. It's too dark and windy to go and check the label now. The bees have really appreciated it. When looking at your photo there do seem to be one or two darker patches at the edges of the flower which look more purple than pink. Will be interesting to see what T&M have to say on the matter.

    ReplyDelete

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