Globe Thistle Blue & White Mix

Echinops ritro
Also known as Echinops, Southern Globe Thistle, Small Globe Thistle

$5.00

In stock

Description

The adorable, round, blue flowers of Globe Thistles are excellent dried flowers. They’re textural and whimsical and they look exactly the same fresh or dried, which is a very desirable characteristic of dried flowers. If harvested at the right time, they can last for years. When in bloom, little purple flowers appear on top of the globes, which attract numerous pollinators. They’re very hardy, drought-tolerant perennials, which make them ideal for border planting.

Globe Thistles come in varying shades of blue. This mix exhibits the full spectrum of possibilities from deep indigo to frosty white.

Details

Lifecycle: Perennial
Lifespan: 5 – 10 years
Hardiness zones: 3 – 10 (USDA)
Habitats: Gravely places on mountain slopes
Plant size: 2 – 3 feet tall
Light: Full sun
Soil: Poor, rocky soil
Water: Minimal once established
Seeds per packet: 25+ seeds

Seed Starting

Sow indoors – 6-8 weeks before planting out. Cover seeds enough to hold them in place. Harden off and transplant outdoors after last frost 2 – 3 ft apart.

Direct seed – Sow in prepared soil after last frost. Cover seeds lightly.

Cultivation

Echinops are easy to grow, drought tolerant, deer resistant plants. Once established, watering can be reduced to once a week during the hottest summer months. Echinops begin flowering in its first year between June – August. Harvest flowers or deadhead to encourage rebloom. They can become bushy and quite large. One of the largest echinops I’ve ever seen lives at the Chadwick Garden in UC Santa Cruz. It was over 5 feet tall and 8 feet wide.

In our Zone 7B garden, echinops die back completely in the fall. I cut off the dead flowering stems in the winter and mark them as needed. In the spring, I brush off debris that cover the plants to give them light and space.

Harvest

Fresh cut or dried – cut stems when 1/2 to 3/4 of the globe has turned blue. If flowers start blooming on the spikes, it’s too late to harvest. The globes will fall apart during drying. Wear gloves when harvesting and strip off the stems to remove the spiky foliage.

Propagation

Echinops propagate by seeds and self sow readily. We often find echinops volunteers around the parent plant. You can dig these up to transplant or save seeds to sow.

Seed Saving

Saving echinops seeds is difficult and requires some knowledge of seed saving and seed cleaning techniques. To collect seeds, wait for the flowers to finish blooming and fall off. A good sign to look for is when the globe has turned brown and falls apart when you touch them. Collect globes into buckets (wear gloves as they are spiky!). The seeds are inside each of the spikes. Squeeze a spike with your finger nails to push the seed out. They look a bit like rice. To process a large quantity, place the globes into a fabric bag (like a pillow case). Use a rolling pin and roll over the bag several times to thresh the seeds by crushing the spikes. Shake out the bag into a shallow container and screen out the seeds.

Additional information

Weight0.007 lbs
Dimensions4.5 × 3.25 × .05 in

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