That is Centaurea cyan's or Bachelor's Button. Quite beautiful. I believe it reseeds but not in a bad or invasive way. It is frequently cultivated and generally well-loved by gardeners.

I like it because in my zone 6 garden it blooms at a good time, before a lot of the perennials I grow.

it is the perennial bachelor button...

as compared to the annual corn flower.. with the same common name ...

a good lesson in why common names can fail ... and why you should latin now ...

ken

Thanks! I don't know why that didnt come to mind. I just planted some annual bachelor buttons in vintage planters.

I will have to make sure I am more careful next year when they come up.

Plant a bunch of them - they make a great looking clump. I do absolutely nothing to them, don't fertilize, and they look beautiful. They are in good loam in my front yard and horrible clay in the very back of my yard - they don't seem to mind the clay.

Centaurea montana. A very nice non-native perennial that is not invasive. It's different enough so that it creates interest.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mobot reference

It's a tenacious plant. I have been digging out pieces from my garden for years and it still persists. Maybe some of the choice cultivars are worth growing, but the common blue one has a lot of coarse foliage for the limited amount of flowers.

Ditto. A favorite food source for goldfinches. Donna, cut it down hard after blooming. It will regrow into a nice neat clump, and re-bloom. I dig out seedlings every year to bring to a plant swap, as people keep asking for it. I save only the big clumps.