Echinops sphaerocephalus Seeds | Great Globe-thistle
LATIN NAME: Echinops sphaerocephalus
COMMON NAME: Great Globe-thistle
Plant Profile
Great Globe-thistle (Echinops sphaerocephalus) is a tall, upright, perennial. Herb steadily grows into a rounded crown, with a mature height of 5-10 metres. Plant it in full sun with deep, fertile ground. Its flowers draw a steady traffic of bees and other beneficial insects. Plants that offer this much while asking this little are rare enough to treasure.
Science & Biotechnology
Echinops sphaerocephalus sits in the Echinops group, a group that keeps botanists, horticulturists and plant breeders busy with questions of classification, adaptation and ornamental potential. Globe thistle has a real and distinguished place in the research. Gardeners benefit directly from its long cultivation: what the plant will do in a garden is well understood.
Uses & Benefits
Beyond its ornamental appeal, Great Globe-thistle has the practical versatility that makes a plant worth growing from seed year after year. Ecologically, globe thistle is a generous plant of the garden. Its large, round, spiky heads of many small flowers are a magnet for bees and many insects, and its tall, woolly stems give a bold, vertical presence to border and meadow garden. For a grower, globe thistle is an easy and rewarding plant, and for a gardener it brings a large, round, spiky, steel-blue globe to the border. Given the right start, it carries on with minimal intervention.
Globe thistles are architectural bee-magnets; their alkaloids have been studied pharmacologically, but their garden role is bold, drought-proof form.
Growing from Seed
Seed is the natural starting point for Great Globe-thistle, and the process is uncomplicated. Sow evenly over the surface and cover lightly into a loose, well-drained seed compost, water in gently, and keep the sowing in full sun with steady moisture. Once the seedlings have made true leaves, pot them on individually and plant out when they are sturdy and conditions are right.
Our Take
Great Globe-thistle has real presence in the garden without demanding much in return. Careful watering early on is rewarded by toughness at maturity.
Related Reading
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