Eryngium x olivieranum

Apiaceae

Eryngium olivianum

Habitat: full sun Flowering: summer Height: 90 cm Width: 40 cm Soil: any light soil

A fine genus of plants, grown for their spiky foliage and bracts, silvery blue, silvery green or just plain silver, with teasel-like heads of flowers, the shape and size of an egg, although in the same is a quail’s egg, and in other a duck’s. The plants include the sea hollies, and some spectacular ones with vicious spines. Many are monocarpic, but are easily propagated from seeds, and may seed themselves gently in the garden.

Eryngium x olivieranum is a really lovely plant with silvery-violet-blue flowers and finely divided, spiky bracts, which are somewhere between silver and metallic blue. The basal rosette is also composed of toothed, spiky leaves, so it is a fine plant for for both its subtle colouring and its interesting texture.
9 cm pot £4.00

		Eryngium alpinum is a really lovely plant with silver-blue flowers and finely divided violet-blue bracts, giving a shimmering sea-like effect. The basal rosette is composed of toothed, spiky leaves. A great plant for interesting texture and subtle colouring.
		Eryngium bourgatii has an open, branched structure, silvery grey throughout. It has quail-egg sized flowers, but makes up for their individual smallness with the number of them. Perennial.
		Eryngium giganteum is what is also known as 'Miss Willmott's Ghost', as apparently she was in the habit of dropping some of its seeds in friends' gardens, so that the plants would appear mysteriously. This was a generous act, as the silver, spiky leaves look good all the time, only to enhanced by the silvery blue flowers.
		Eryngium planum has spiny, blue-tinted leaves and numerous, pale blue flowers with bluey green, spiky bracts throughout the summer.