What is wrong with my Scabious?

it looks like it has mildew. this can be treated with a fungicide.

Thanks Seaburngirl - I was wondering whether to cut everything back to see if it shoots off again, would you advise me to do this too? Or just spray with fungicide? I'm loath to lose the colour of the flowers in the border, but the foliage does look awful.

Fungicide spray, as seaburngirl says. I'd recommend you get Roseclear 3 and mix it up yourself - think its double dose when there's a bad infection like this, and it works better than the premixed ones anyway. You'll need to buy a sprayer though.

Thank you for the confirmation Bamboo, much appreciated. I already have a sprayer, so will get the fungicide sorted.

I think they like an alkaline soil in which case a dressing of lime might help.

Thank you Pennyfarthing - I must confess, shock horror, that I have never tested my soil so don't know whether it's acid or alkaline. It is very clay-y (is that a word?), does this indicate anything?

Well, I haven't have any luck with scabious on thick clay here and although I've never personally tested the soil, I'm told it's pretty neutral to acid round here. Wild scabious grows happily on the South Downs, which are chalk, so I would work on that theory!