Always popular for good reason, Echinops produces spiky blue ball shaped flowers on 1m tall stems. Thistle flowers add a wild look to the garden and make a very good ‘back of border’ plant where their height, colour and architectural shape draw the eye. Also very good as cut and dried flower.
Goes well with:
Flowers - Agastache ‘Blackadder’ (giant hyssop), Echinacea pallida (pale coneflower), Eryngium agavifolium (sea holly), Salvia nemorosa ‘Cardonna’ (meadow sage).
Grasses - Sesleria autumnalis ‘Purple Rain’ (autumn moor grass), Stipa gigantic (golden oats).
Care of Echinops ritro Veitch’s Blue
Can be cut down to ground level after flowering to stimulate a second flush of flower heads. Large, congested clumps can be divided in Autumn or Spring.
Wildlife benefits
Provides pollen and nectar for bees and hoverflies and nectar for butterflies. Hollow stems and dried seed heads provide Winter habitiat for hibernating bees, ladybirds, hoverflies, lacewings and their larvae.
