Crambe maritima
Seakale, Colewort
- Height × spread
- 0.75m × 0.75m
- Position
- Full sun
- Hardiness
- Colder than -20C (RHS H7)
- Flowers
- Spring, Summer
Availability
Please ask in store about availability
Many plants are seasonal. Call 01234 567890 to check current stock.
About this plant
This wonderful plant, native to Britain and Ireland, has lush cabbage-like leaves and the most amazing froth of flowers, rather like gypsophila. The flowers are honey scented and come in summer. The leaves are fascinating: deeply lobed, of variable colour, at best a blue-silver and smelling of the sea. Give this dramatic plant the space it requires and you will find that the foliage spray doubles the plant height. If it is grown in lime the colour is whiter and more beautiful. In the autumn, you can dig up the roots, pot them, put them in the airing cupboard and then eat the young sprouting shoots as a salad. The plant is lovely for froth behind almost any solid looking front of the border plant.
- Flower colour
- White
- Foliage colour
- Blue
- Variegated
- No
- Scent
- Yes, honey-almond
- Shape
- Dome
- Height
- 0.75m
- Spread
- 0.75m
- Season of interest
- Summer
- Flowers in
- Spring, Summer
- Evergreen
- Deciduous
- Garden style
- Seaside garden, Scented garden, Prairie garden, Gravel garden
- Sun or shade
- Likes full sun, tolerates part shade
- Soil type
- Clay, Loam (normal), Poor soil
- Soil pH
- All types
- Drainage
- Moisture retentive soil, Well drained soil, Dry soil, Drought resistant
- Hardiness
- Colder than -20C (RHS H7)
- Borders & containers
- Borders
- Use for
- Bee attraction, Sensory garden (tactile)
- Hazards
- No
Spring
Spring - late · Outdoors
Feed with slow release fertiliser
Apply a general purpose slow release fertiliser, spreading it around the root area of the plant as it is coming into growth. (Or apply a liquid feed at regular intervals throughout the growing season.)
This is a simple way to provide a nutrient boost as a single annual procedure.
Spring-Autumn · Outdoors
Water in dry periods
Established plants in the ground can cope with 7-10 days of dryness, and shrubs often manage 2 to 3 weeks. Water one section of the garden thoroughly each day rather than a little everywhere. Check plants in pots more often, especially in hot weather.
Spring - early-mid · Planting
Divide when too large
The plant can be divided if it becomes too large or another plant is required. This may involve physically dividing the clump in two, removing offsets or small bulbs or dividing rhizomes. The new plants can be grown in pots or planted in the ground.