Plant in full sun in a well-drained soil and irrigate occasionally to very little. Listed to USDA Zone 7 in Hardy Herbaceous Perennials by Leo Jelitto and Wilhelm Schacht (Timber Press, 1985) so should be reliably cold hardy at least down to 10°F. Tolerant of the wind and salt spray of seashore conditions. A very attractive small plant for use in the mediterranean climate garden - particularly nice to use for contrasting foliage with darker foliage plants.

Centaurea ragusina is endemic to Croatia where grows on cliffs, rocks and stone walls on the islands and mainland of the central and southern Dalmatian coast. The name for the genus comes from the centaurs of Greek mythology which were claimed to have discovered the plants medicinal qualities and the specific epithet comes from the locality of Ragusa (now Dubrovnik) from where the plants Carl Linnaeus described the species in 1753 originated, though some confusion over the location as the plant was originally listed as from Crete (previously the Kingdom of Candia). For this reason, in the listing in the William Curtis's Botanical Magazine ("The Botanical Magazine " Volume 14, pg. 494) called it the Cretan Centaury. Curtis also mistakenly listed the plant native the native to the isle of Candia (Crete) and also noted that it was first grown in 1714 in the garden of gardener and botanist Mary Somerset, the Duchess of Beaufort (1630–1715), who was notably one of England's earliest distinguished lady gardeners. Other common names include Ragusa Knapweed, Dubrovnik Cornflower and Snowflake Dusty Miller. This plant is rare and protected in it natural habitat but was once a much more common plant in horticulture, grown for border edging as the common "Dusty Miller" until replaced by other related species. While this plant is rarely discussed in modern books, the Irish-born gardener and writer William Robinson (1838-1935) wrote of this plant in The Subtropical Garden: Or, Beauty of Form in the Flower Garden, published in 1871, that "This fine and distinct plant, which has lately become one of the most popular of our flower garden ornaments, cannot be passed by in a book of fine-leaved plants. It is so abundantly use as a bedding and ribbon-plant, etc., that nothing need be said of it in these respects, but it will be seen to great advantage in single, well-grown tufts of small groups, as its silvery leaves would contrast finely with many of the dark green and glossy things recommended for this purpose".

We grew this plant from 2017 until 2024, only discontinuing production as we began shutting down the nursery. We also have long grown the related purple flowering Velvet Centaurea, Centaurea gymnocarpa, which is also sometimes called "Dusty Miller" and now thought to be more correctly a form of Centaurea cineraria. We thank Jose Manza, manager of Seaside Nursery in Carpinteria for providing us with our first stock specimen Centaurea ragusina. 

The information about Centaurea ragusina that is displayed on this web page is based on research conducted in our nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We will also include observations made about this plant as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens that we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We also incorporate comments that we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they share cultural information that aids others growing this plant.