The Cupid's Dart, 'Catananche caerulea', is a charming heirloom plant.

It was historically used in love potions, hence the name, and still symbolizes love in the language of flowers. Native to the dry meadows of Southwest Europe and Italy, these tough plants thrive in average to poor soil and laugh at drought and hot summer sun.

“Amor Blue” produces blooms of lavender-blue, star like flowers each with a dark eye and unique papery petals. The blooms rise on single stems above neat clumps of grey-green foliage. The strong stems hold up to wind and rain. They are hardy to minus 30°C! (-22°F).

This beautiful fast-growing perennial is very easy to grow and is often used as an annual. Super planted the garden border, they also make a wonderful show in containers and a long lasting cut flower.

They look best when grown in groupings, rather than one or two plants and don’t mind crowding. Use it en-masse in prairie style plantings, mixed with echinacea, and rudbeckia. Cupids Dart can also be grown with grasses in a meadow garden.

Sowing:
Sow indoors, February to July
Cupid's Dart can be directly seeded into your flower garden, or started indoors for transplanting later. If started early, they can bloom the first year.

Direct Sowing: Plant them indoors 6 to 8 weeks before the last frost in your area.
Cover Cupid's Dart seeds lightly with soil, about 1/8". Space seeds 3"-4" apart. Thin seedlings to 12" apart.

Sowing Indoors: Almost fill a seed tray with moist seed compost. Sow seeds thinly over the surface and lightly cover them with a little more compost or vermiculite. Place in warmth at 15-20°C (60-68°F) and keep moist. Seeds will germinate in less than two weeks
Keep seedlings in a light position, but shade from bright sun. When large enough to handle transplant 5cm (2in) apart into trays of potting compost. Alternatively transplant to individual 7cm (3in) pots. Gradually accustom plants to outside conditions for 2-3 weeks before planting out from April onwards. Allow 15-20cm (6-9in) between plants. Place the plants no deeper than they were growing in the containers.

Position:
Grow in light soils with a pH range of 6.0 - 7.5. A sandy loam or light clay is preferred. Soils high in organic matter or moisture content make for short lived catananche plants. Drainage is essential in winter as roots are susceptible to rot root in soggy soils.
Fertilizer is not needed in most soils, though a bit of compost mixed into the planting hole will help retain moisture in very quick draining soils.

Cultivation:
Only water when necessary. Deadhead the blooms to encourage the plant to flower throughout the summer until frost. Near the end of summer allow some of the flowers to dry and form seeds, which you can collect.
In autumn fertilize with compost or an all purpose granular fertilizer and provide a light winter mulch.
While it will produce plenty of blooms in the first year, Cupid's Dart will then provide lots of blooms in succeeding years, but needs well draining soil to survive the winter.
Cupid's dart can also be propagated by division.

Plant Use:
Super planted the garden border, or as a drift amongst grasses they also make a wonderful show in containers. Grow with grey or silver-leafed plants such as artemisia and Stachys byzantina which enjoy similar growing conditions.
Cupid's Dart makes a long lasting cut flower. Dry the flowers or preserve in a flower press.

Nomenclature:
Early Greeks and Romans used this Mediterranean native as a key ingredient in powerful love potions, hence the genus name, from Greek katanangke meaning strong incentive and the common name Cupid’s dart.