There are so many huge and intricate spider webs all over the garden right now; I figured what better plant to feature this week than one that looks like a web...
Eryngium venustum also quite dangerous, with both vertical and horizontal spikes closely spaced on each leaf.
This is one of those plants I simply can’t get enough of, my current count is 7 but I’d be happy with a few more. The dried flowers are quite striking so I’ll leave them in place, last Christmas I was feeling crafty so I cut them off, painted them silver, and used them for tiny stars on a chartreuse Monterey cypress.
And since the Annie’s description on plantlust.com says “It even reseeds a tad, so you'll get a few free plants down the road!” that should mean tiny plant babies in my future.
Older plants (which I failed to take a picture of) tend to bulk up and loose that single rosette look. I’ve not been brave enough to try and divide them; I’d rather have a thicket than dead plants.
The stats:
- also known as Mexican Sea Holly,
- hardy in USDA zones 6-10
- eventual size slightly over 1ft wide x 2ft tall (including bloom spike, plant itself is 6-8” tall)
- likes full to part sun (it can be easily shaded out by surrounding plants, I lost one this way)
- drought tolerant
More from the Annie’s description: “Perhaps you need something strange & otherworldly for your low water garden? Well, look no further than this petite Mexican perennial with spacey, spiky leaves & starry silver thistle-like flowers. It is a prickly plant, but attractively so & we don't need all of our plants to be softly pretty, do we? Leaves are very boldly serrated & make a striking pattern even before the flowering stems arise. It's super easy to grow & very tough, needing very little water & surviving in hot, hot sun.”
Far Reaches Farm notes “The flowers dry well and finches go for the seeds. The plant in general is scorned by deer.” What’s not to love?
Since foliage is the main draw for this eryngium I'm also submitting it for Pam's foliage follow-up meme today. Click over to her blog for a list of other bloggers participating. And don't forget to tell us all about your favorite plant in the garden this week…
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