How to Grow Bachelor Button Blue Boys

Bachelor button (Centaurea cyanus) is available in purple, white, pink or blue, such as the popular Blue Boys variety. Bachelor button, also known as cornflower, is used in floral arrangements or dried for crafts such as gluing the dried flower heads to wreaths or straw hats. Bachelor button is considered an annual because it cannot stand harsh winters, but as a self-seeding plant, new growth may be seen the following spring. Plant bachelor button in the spring from seed or potted plant.

Shovel
Garden rake
Mulch

Instructions

- 1
  Cultivate a sunny area in the garden to plant bachelor button from seed or potted plant. Use a shovel to turn the soil. Remove rocks and clumps of grass. Rake the area to level the soil.
- 2
  Scatter seeds on the ground and cover with about 1/2 inch of soil. For an extended blooming period, reserve half the seeds to plant two weeks later. If planting from a container, use your fingers or a hand trowel to make an opening in the soil the same size as the container. Remove the plant from the container and place in the opening. The soil level of the potted plant should be at or slightly below ground level.
- 3
  Water the seeds or newly set plants gently. Seedlings should appear within 10 days. When the seedlings are about 3 inches tall, thin to space them six to 12 inches apart.
- 4
  Water the plants about every 10 days if there is no rainfall. Bachelor button is drought tolerant and does not like having its roots standing in water.
- 5
  Spread 1 to 2 inches of mulch, such as pine chips, around the flowers, keeping the mulch about an inch from the stem. Besides adding a uniform appearance to the landscape, mulch helps retain moisture and block the growth of weeds.

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