Among the wealth of perennials available to the gardener today, few match the drama of globe thistles. They are known for their true-blue, spherical inflorescences, each of which starts life as small grey-green mace-like globe, before individual blue flowers open from the top of the sphere down. Echinops are at their best planted en masse, creating veritable oceans of suspended blue spheres bobbing gracefully in the breeze. Bees and other pollinators are equally enticed by globe thistles, with the compound inflorescences among the most abundant and frequently replenished sources of nectar available. Unoccupied globes are therefore a rare sight on a summer’s day, ensuring borders hum approvingly.
Few perennials can compete with globe thistles for drought tolerance. Once established, they require no additional watering – even in sweltering droughts as other perennials wilt and wither away. Globe thistles combine this drought tolerance with complete hardiness, continuing to grow well in cold, wet conditions and surviving unscathed in even the coldest of UK winters before emerging anew each spring.
A classic position is in dry gardens and what I would term ‘scrubland’ gardens. In a sparse setting against a backdrop of shrubs such as buddlejas and brooms, globe thistles can be used to great effect as structural punctuation throughout the planting scheme. In spring, their finely cut foliage provides a pleasing foil to architectural sea hollies, euphorbias and sedums, before taking centre stage in summer, flooding the garden with blue.
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STEPS TO SUCCESS
Enclosed within a rustic barn conversion, this courtyard garden contrasts riotous Mediterranean-inspired gravel planting with clean lines and a reflective pool
ANNIE GUILFOYLE
The garden polymath on the pleasures of passing on knowledge, the rewards of close observation and the circuitous route towards grounding her itchy feet
HEAVEN SCENT
As summer adds a new dimension to his garden, Nigel Slater reflects on the rewards of planting for perfume
Colour therapy
Ann-Maree Winter's joyful Australian garden became a place of solace and nurture in hard times
30 plants with interest all year
These hard-working plants provide several seasons of interest in your garden through flowers, fruit, foliage, bark and even spring shoots
PERFECT HARMONY
Rosarian Michael Marriott and TV producer Rosie Irving have very different ideas on gardening, but they have discovered the secret to sharing a single plot amicably
SUMMERFLOWERING ALLIUMS
Loved for their showy spheres, alliums have long been stalwarts of late spring, but now new introductions are extending the party through summer
Faith in the future
Marian Boswall's contemporary design for the garden of a former chapel respects the property's history while looking to the future
Summertime at Sissinghurst
Ensuring Sissinghurstâs famous roses look fabulous throughout the season is one of the many tasks keeping head gardener Troy Scott Smith and his team busy right now
FRESH APPROACH
Colm Josephâs design for this new garden, which surrounds a modern house within a heritage setting, uses clever planting to give a historic site a contemporary feel