Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Eryngium maritimum, my favorite plant in the garden this week...

This Eryngium maritimum has been in my garden just shy of a year…

It’s not a big “stop you in your tracks” stunner…

But those twisted, spiky, ghostly leaves…

I love them.

I bought my Eryngium maritimum on a visit to Dancing Oaks Nursery last August. Not exactly prime time to plant something in the garden but I did it anyway. Of course it pouted and did a disappearing act. One or two leaves appeared once the rains returned in the fall but it never did look like it was going to make it. Now I finally think it’s decided to live.

I thought maybe it would send up a bloom but it just keeps putting out new leaves instead, which is just fine.

The stats:
  • Evergreen perennial native to Europe and often found growing on the shore.
  • Prefers full sun and well-drained soil with moderate water.
  • The foliage is rumored to reach a foot and a half tall and wide with bloom stalks a foot above that.
  • Zones 5 - 10

Growing right next to the Eryngium is a seedling from an earlier featured fav Euphorbia rigida.

The mother plant had to come out during the Rhody removal but thankfully I’ve got a few seedlings appearing around the garden. Free plants, that’s another favorite thing. If you've got a current favorite in your garden and have done a blog post about it please share a link in the comments, we'd love to learn about it!

All material © 2009-2013 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

34 comments:

  1. Cool Eryngium! Love that far out foliage color and shape.

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    1. Do you have one in your garden? Or maybe I should ask, have you ever grown this one?

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  2. OH!! I love that! I love the color of that leaf! and the fact that it is armed with pokes is even better!

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    1. It's such a powdery color that it looks cool even on a 90 degree day!

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  3. That's a beauty! love it. I've had limited success with eryngium here but should try them again. that's hardy to Zone 5? I might just have to find and try this one

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  4. I had a feeling one of these posts was coming today! I wrote mine over the weekend, but didn't want to link it to yours from last week. So here it is: http://bonneylassie.blogspot.com/2013/07/my-favorite-plant-in-garden-right-now.html

    That is a cool Eryngium, one more that I've never heard of. I love the big broad wavy spiky blue leaves.

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    Replies
    1. And I love the broad nicely colored leaves of your fav!

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  5. I nearly bought one of these at Portland Nursery last week, then lost my nerve because of the non prime time planting conditions you mention (silly me). You will find my fave of the week here: http://bannersbyricki.com/archives/3225

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    1. I saw those at Portland Nursery! They were very nice plants. You probably need to go back.

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  6. Great plant... and down to zone 5! It could live here in Nova Scotia. I have about three species of Eryngium now. The more the merrier. Thanks for your great posts. Very inspiring... well, they inspire lots of green envy to one in a zone 5/6 area, with a long winter.

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    1. Having lived in a "zone 5/6 area, with a long winter" I can sympathize. And I am so thankful that I'm no longer there (sorry).

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  7. AnonymousJuly 24, 2013

    So very unusual... I like it! And it looks fab against those red flowers! Grevillia?

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    1. Yep, Grevillea juniperina ‘Lava Cascade’...which is also a fabulous plant!

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  8. I LOVE that plant!

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  9. That is very very cool Loree..I would love to try one of those- I googled to see what the flowers look like-I'd have to be really careful about where I put it, but I know I could find a spot.

    I'm on board this week !

    http://gardenbook-ks.blogspot.com/2013/07/joining-in-my-favorite-plant-in-garden.html

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    1. Thanks for joining in KS and I do hope you try this eryngium!

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  10. Love it Loree, to us it's a 'stop it on your tracks' sort of plant. Will have to jot down it's name....

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    1. So good to see you guys are feeling up to blog visiting. And you're right of course, it is getting so many new leaves right now that it's really plumping up and stopping me in my tracks.

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  11. Wow! I love to see things I've never seen before.

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    1. Me too, that's one of the best things about garden blogs!

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  12. AnonymousJuly 25, 2013

    Great looking eryngium. You have so many plants that cause a lust fever in me, and such a great writer it's a joy to read your blog.

    John, Aberdeen, WA

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    1. Ah thank you John! Kinda makes you wonder though...is my garden just a crazy plant collection or an actual garden with a cohesive style? I'm trying!

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  13. Since I'm having an eryngo kind of summer this year, I'm tackling this one next.

    http://agrowingobsession.com/?p=44657

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    1. An eryngo kind of summer is a good thing, yes?

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  14. I also found myself with an eryngo lust this year, I am growing E. leavenworthii, an annual, so far it is small but still alive so there is hope. The other is a perennial, E. alpinum Blue Lace, very beautiful metallic purple stems and pineapple-like flowers, lacy, I'm in total plant lust but even with chilling etc. I didn't get any seedlings. Sometimes it's actually the fault of the seeds. I don't see them in nurseries, I'll have to check out your nursery. Thanks for the photos, at least I can enjoy yours.

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    1. I had a E. alpinum Blue Lace once upon a time. I stupidly let another plant take over that part of the garden and I lost it. What a beauty!

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  15. I am entering your Favorite Plant of the Week entries, here is my link-

    http://weedingonthewildside.blogspot.com/2013/07/blue-monday-macro-monday-i-heart-macro.html

    I actually saw an Eryngium in the nursery today but they were so tall and floppy (and expensive) that I decided to see if I could get one at the beginning of the season next year. I was surprised how soft the flowers and leaves were.

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    1. Thanks for the link Hannah! Your tying in blueberries to "blue monday" and your "fav plant" was an excellent combo!

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