Centaurea Flower Seeds

Our Centaurea Flower seeds have been grown in the United States since Colonial times, originally brought from Europe by our ancestors. Centaurea has many names: Cornflowers, Basket Flowers, Blue Bottles or Bachelor’s Buttons, which is the most common. Besides being worn as boutonnieres by our ancestors, Bachelor Buttons are also edible, adding wonderful color to salads and making decorative garnishes for plates. You can decorate cakes with them!


Centaurea, pronounced sen-taw-REE-uh, are available as both an annual and a perennial, the blossoms being both single and double. Having thistle-like flowers, with rolled quills showing off frilly ends and embellished eyes, they are tremendously showy, coming in a variety of attractive single and multihued varieties. Unlike thistles, there is nothing “prickly” about them. They are drought tolerant once established; in fact they thrive with infrequent watering. Bachelor’s Buttons are also exceptionally long lasting as a cut flower and can be dried for everlasting arrangements. As with all bloomers, they will perform their best on a regular feeding schedule, though these are one of the few that will become vegetative with too much food. We suggest you feed at 1/3 to 1/2 the suggested amount with a supplement specifically designed for blooming plants. We recommend Jungle Flora or Espoma Flower-tone®, both of which are organically rich and specially formulated for blooming plants.


Each order of our fresh Centaurea seeds is filled by hand, put into a resealable plastic bag and then placed into a labeled seed packet. It is our goal to provide our customers the best in freshness and quality.

Show product details for Choice Mix Centaurea Flower Seeds

Choice Mix Centaurea Flower Seeds

Price $2.41

Our ‘Choice Mix’ Centaurea Flower Seed is an annual variety, most widely known as Bachelor’s Button, probably because it was prominently displayed in the button hole on suits and shirts as a boutonniere in days long gone. Our Choice Mix has double, fantastically showy 1 to 1 1/2-inch blossoms in a range of pastel hues, from white to rose to lavender. Successive sowings 2 or 3 weeks apart will provide you with colorful blossoms for the whole season! Approximately 200 seeds per each hand-filled packet.

Show product details for Jubilee Gem Centaurea Flower Seeds

Jubilee Gem Centaurea Flower Seeds

Price $2.41

Our ‘Jubilee Gem’ Centaurea Flower Seed is easily one of the oldest annual varieties of Bachelor Button, winning a Silver Medal at the All-America Selections® trials clear back in 1937! This old-fashioned favorite has fully double, rich, dark blue blossoms on sturdy upright stems only sparsely decorated with narrow, grayish-green leaves. Mix these with other cut flowers, both the blossom and the foliage adding interest and color to fresh vases, as well as to dried arrangements. Or display them on their own; they don’t mind! Approximately 200 seeds per each hand-filled packet.

Show product details for Polka Dot Mix Centaurea Flower Seeds

Polka Dot Mix Centaurea Flower Seeds

Price $2.95

Our ‘Polka Dot Mix’ Centaurea Flower Seed is an annual dwarf variety, normally only reaching about knee-high. Ideal for vases, they last a long time, and can even last forever if dried. This color combination is designed to be complementary to each other, having vivid blue, dark burgundy, rich lavender, dark rosy pink and white, with contrastingly colored centers. These fully double blossoms will re-seed for next year’s show if allowed to! Approximately 200 seeds per each hand-filled packet.