Starring in this scene is a beautiful flower with a less-than-luscious name, the scabious. Yes, bad as that: it is related to “scabies”; and even though it commemorates the flower’s power to cure, much nicer not to be reminded of that most unpleasant situation. Apparently it also goes by “pincushion flower”, for the sloping dome at its center. And one cultivar, Scabiosa atropurpurea, is the hauntingly folkloric “mourning bride.”
Whatever we call them, the moths don’t mind. Scabiosa is rich in nectar, and you’ll seldom see one without a butterfly or moth nearby.
The other star here is northern sea oats, Chasmanthium latifolium. On the end of long lamppost stems, it shows lovely flat little heads, pleated like origami packets tight around the seeds inside. Powerful seeds held there: like its sibling grasses it is firmly territorial, and spreads its seeds with lebensraum abandon.
