Apricot-pink flower heads composed of clusters of dainty florets bloom in early to mid-summer, keeping company with lavender-blue campanulas and larkspurs and scarlet maltese cross. A rare heirloom, given old names such as Nonesuch and Mock Sweet William, it is a hardy survivor. Easy and pest free, it's showy grown in masses in the cottage garden. This could be the ‘pale red’ variation of the traditional bright scarlet maltese cross that was mentioned in Curtis’s Botanical Magazine in 1794.