Sounds as if they're not getting enough water, and therefore not enough nutrients. How long's the compost been in the same pots? Have you potted your plants up into fresh compost and larger containers every couple of years? Nothing wrong with tap water either - tap water's certainly better than not enough rain water, either from the sky or from a barrel.

The compost in a couple of the pots was new, although from a bag i used last summer, the scabiosa and campanula were previously in a raised bed, i had to take them out last august and were temporarily potted up over winter, i potted them up properly in spring but i haven't fed them or anything? I guess they need some nutrients then? Im planning on putting them back in the ground once ive finished preparing the beds but that probably wont be until next spring now :(

If you intend to replant them, they should recover once you do. You could give them a shot of feed now, maybe some Miracle Gro general purpose, although the corn cockles would prefer not - they're used to growing on poor ground or with lots of competition.

Ok, thank you Bamboo :) You can tell i'm new to this. Should the corn cockles have flowered by now though? They seem to be growing well, just a little colour variation in all of them. I would prefer to plant the others out sooner but i dont know if planting them in summer/autumn is a good idea? They seem to be fairly hardy, i neglected them last winter (bad gardener!) but they bounced back once id re-potted them in the spring.

Planting will be fine in September or October, except for the corn cockles - they're only annuals anyway.

Yes the corn cockles will stay in the pots, I didn't want the pots all stacked up in a corner so i thought i'd put them to good use for this summer :)

Thank you Bamboo, I best get gardening so i can finish preparing the soil for planting out! :)