Echinops hussonii seed

LATIN NAME: Echinops hussonii

COMMON NAME: Husson’s Globe Thistle

The Husson’s globe thistle is a handsome, upright, prickly, perennial herb of the warm, dry, sunny places, and its fine, deeply divided, prickly, bluish-green leaves and its fine, round, spiky, steel-blue or silvery-blue globe heads of the many small flowers, followed by the small, dry, many-seeded fruits, have made it a treasured and fine plant of the region. It grows as an upright, prickly, perennial herb, reaching up to one metre and a half or more, with the many upright, branching stems bearing the alternate, deeply divided, prickly, bluish-green leaves and, through the summer, the fine, round, spiky, steel-blue or silvery-blue globe heads of the many small flowers, followed by the small, dry, many-seeded fruits. It is a species of the flowering herb in the daisy family, and it is native to the warm, dry, sunny places of the western and central Asia, while it is treasured for its fine, round, spiky, blue globe heads, and it is known as the Husson’s globe thistle.

In the daisy family it is the steel-blue globe thistle of the dry steppe, a plant whose round, spiky heads of blossom are the pride of the summer border.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The Husson’s globe thistle appears in the dry-land ecology papers of the western and central Asia, and the botanists have mapped its place in the daisy family and the regional flora. The insect ecologists have counted the bees, the butterflies and the many insects on the round, spiky globe heads, and the horticulturists have grown the steel-blue form for the dry garden, the border and the cutting garden. It is a plant of the pollinator-friendly, blue-headed kind, and the growers of the dry-garden perennials keep it in their catalogues.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

In the dry garden and the border, the Husson’s globe thistle is the blue globe of the sunny corner. Its spiky heads feed the bees and the butterflies, its dry fruits feed the birds, and the prickly, bluish-green form gives the garden a fine, bold presence. It has served the border and the cutting garden, and it grows well in the dry, well-drained ground of the open, sunny spot. Blue, spiky and round-headed.

The fine, bristly seeds are simple to start — press them into the surface of pots of gritty, free-draining soil without burying them deep, since they appreciate a little light, stand the pots in a bright, open spot and water them gently, and they’ll be up before long.