Eryngium variifolium
Sea holly, Eryngo, Eringoe, Variegated sea holly
- Height × spread
- 0.46m × 0.25m
- Position
- Full sun
- Hardiness
- Cold to -15C (RHS H5)
- Flowers
- Summer, Autumn
Availability
Please ask in store about availability
Many plants are seasonal. Call 01234 567890 to check current stock.
About this plant
This is a discreet little plant in winter and spring with a neat rosette of rounded heart-shaped leaves. In summer, however, it sends up a great spined stalk armed with spikey, handsomely white-veined, leaves; a base for impressive sprays of needled collars beneath little grey-blue flower heads. The initial blue of these fades to beige and grey tints and you have an architectural chaos in the maze of prickled heads. You can cut and dry these for winter decoration. This plant makes a spiky accent that will enhance by contrast the soft lines of other plants that enjoy dry and hot summer conditions.
- Flower colour
- Blue, Grey
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Autumn foliage
- Grey-white
- Variegated
- No
- Scent
- No
- Shape
- Column
- Height
- 0.46m
- Spread
- 0.25m
- Season of interest
- Summer, Winter
- Flowers in
- Summer, Autumn
- Evergreen
- Deciduous
- Garden style
- Winter garden, Seaside garden, Rock garden, Prairie garden, Gravel garden
- Sun or shade
- Likes full sun
- Soil type
- Chalk, Gravelly soil, Loam (normal), Poor soil, Sandy soil
- Soil pH
- All types
- Drainage
- Well drained soil, Dry soil, Drought resistant
- Hardiness
- Cold to -15C (RHS H5)
- Borders & containers
- Borders
- Use for
- Deer resistant, Rabbit resistant, Bee attraction, Butterfly attraction
- Hazards
- Yes, stems are prickly/thorny
Spring
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.
Summer
Summer - early · Outdoors
Feed a general fertiliser
Where plants have moderate needs for nutrients, they can simply be given a general feed, fairly early in the growth season so that the growth has plenty of time to harden off before the cold weather.
Give plants a general boost with the application of a general purpose fertiliser which is spread around the root area of the plant, with amounts as directed on the feed label.
Found in
More Eryngium
Eryngium bourgatii
Pyrenean eryngyo, Bourgat's eryngo
Eryngium planum 'Blue Hobbit'
Blue eryngo, Flat sea holly
Eryngium planum 'Jade Frost'
Blue eryngo, Flat sea holly
Eryngium x zabelii 'Big Blue'
Sea holly, Eryngo
Eryngium
Sea holly, Eryngo, Eringoe
Eryngium 'Grumpy'
Sea holly
Eryngium 'Pen Blue'
Sea holly, Eryngo
Eryngium Magical Purple Stars = 'Kolmpurst'
Sea holly