Sea holly

'Blaukappe'?? Blue hat? blue top? It's a wonderful blue!

The GCs in france dont like parting with information very much, labelled Eryngium maritimum only. But Blaukappe seems right, i just looked it up. Thank you. Afraid it wont like conditions here as much, a bit more moisture around ..lol!

Do you have clay soil? My soil is very sandy and the echinops likes it...(by that I mean that it is surviving) Keep hoping that with a division and a different placement it will flourish. Would probably have to grow the sea holly as an annual. How is the garden planning progressing?

Yes my soil is a mixed clay but so was my french soil. They only grew..and positively thrived...under a layer of gravel and on the hard trodden paths!!! Certainly no loose silty sandy soil. We did get temps of minus 14C but never prolonged, but they grew as perennials , you might be right and annuals is the way togo for you. They do need some time in a cold damp corner to germinate though, if you get the seeds, and not a fridge! doesnt seem to work. Planning changing daily stage!!

Oh I have a place in my heart for true survivors...Imagine growing in gravel?! I really must try it now! I've been reading a lot of seed catalogues but can't get down to the graph paper stages...don't know why. I'm thinking that it's just the mid-winter blahs and it will pass and I'll berate myself for not doing the paperwork! I think I said it before but I have too much space now! It is taking too much time to fill it up and that makes me feel less empowered. Blah, blah, blah.... don't mind me, please. So how have your plans changed? going with the shrubbery? too many flowers can be a challenge to keep when you have a full life otherwise. I've decided that my little stream valley needs a middle story planting. (Larger shrubs to fill the verges of the tall tree forest.) At least that's today's plan. ;-)

Isn't it lovely!

Thanks Tb, and they really were that intense blue, it wasn't just my camera being funny