Description
Echinops – Globe Thistle –
There are about 120 species of erect perennial, biennials, and annuals, in this genus. They occur in hot, gravelly slopes and dry grassland from Central and Southern Europe to Central Asia, India and in the mountains of tropical Africa. Globe thistles have simple, smooth edged or pinnatifid to pinnatisect, spiny foliage, usually grayish white and woolly. They bear spherical, white, gray, or blue terminal flowers, with bristly bracts. Undemanding plants, they are suitable for a large border or wild garden. They are also good for cutting and drying. Most cultivated species grow to 4′ feet tall or more.
Best grown in poor, well drained soil in full sun, but will grow in almost any soil in full sun or partial shade. Deadhead to prevent self seeding. Divide from autumn to spring.
Prone to aphids.
E. giganteus – This imposing perennial from Ethiopia grows 15′ feet tall and 30″ wide. It produces erect, woolly stems and obovate to lance shaped, pinnatifid, bristly leaves, 18″ long, which are white hairy beneath. In mid summer it bears solitary, sometimes multiple, spherical, grayish blue flowers, 8″ across.
Zones 4-8
