Help! What is my lovely bee plant??

[KatyaZamolodchikova]

Hello lovely greenfingered mumsnetters!

I am decidedly not greenfingered but am having an enthusiastic attempt at gardening this year. I have these beautiful flowers in my untended garden along with a million bluebells. I love these flowers and the bees do too. I do nothing with them, they grow themselves and come up every year. I’d love to know what they are, if anyone knows?

Oh. I failed to add the photo! Here they are:

It is centaurea. Its a perennial wildflower, it will die down to the ground and come back every year. I think it will flower all summer. Bees love it! And birds will eat the seeds from the seedheads after it flowers. It will self seed, so you may find that you have more and more of it every year.

Thank you so much @WellTidy

We’ve lived here years and it’s always been there, and I’ve noticed how keen the bees are on it! Is it possible to move some of it? It’s all in one corner at the moment and I’d love to spread it out across the beds a bit more.

I’m also thrilled that it’s a wildflower, I would love a wildflower garden and now I have one!

I have this plant too. I didnt realise it was a wildflower - just thought it was a garden perennial. I love it too - but mine gets terrible mildew.

There are cultivated varieties, Centaurea Montana Purple Heart has white petals and a deep purple centre. They’re lovely planted together.
They are one of those plants that is a ‘good doer’.

You could move it, but I probably wouldn't. It may pout a little if you move it now that it is in flower. If you do, then water in well, keep watering it regularly and give it a bit of feed. At worst, it would die down and then come back next year, I'd imagine. If it is already established, and it sounds like it is, you could wait until autumn and then divide it.

Hmmm moving it sounds tricky. Maybe I could add in the purple heart variety elsewhere for next year.