Knautia arvensis. -the classic wild scabious that used to be seen in our country lane verges before they were cut too early. This one is grown from seed Jan collected from a hedgerow near Gellifor, Ruthin and has bigger and more flowers on sturdier stems and grows to about 1 metre; competes well in a meadow or border situation. It also gets through our wet winters much easier than the foreign showy garden varieties. Hardy perennial, clump forming.

It's very attractive to bumblebees, solitary bees, butterflies and many other insects all summer long. It's also the larval foodplant of this beautiful micromoth; 

Nemophora metallica

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nemophora metallica
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Adelidae
Genus:	Nemophora
Species:	N. metallica
Binomial name
Nemophora metallica Poda, 1759
Synonyms
Phalaena metallica Poda, 1761 Phalaena scabiosella Scopoli, 1763 Nemotois aerosellus Zeller, 1850 Nemotois rebelellus Turati, 1924

Nemophora metallica is a moth of the family Adelidae. It is found in Europe.

Its wingspan is 15–20 mm. The moth flies from late June to August depending on the location.

The larvae feed on Knautia arvensis and Scabiosa columbaria.

Gallery[edit]

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  Larva

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  Scabious head, with larva case attached

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  Empty seed husk, used by the young larva as its first case

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  Larval case

 strips of 4 medium plugs available soon