

Photos taken in November 2020
Tough plants often have common names that suggest they are weeds. Globe Thistle is no exception. Real thistles are prickly, deep-rooted weeds (although some are quite attractive). Globe Thistle (Echinops ritro) shares some of their qualities, but escapes true weediness.
This is a plant I can recommend without reservation to anyone with a dry garden. In moist soil it would grow weak and floppy and need staking. It prefers full sun but blooms well enough in my garden with only four hours of direct sun. Deer don’t eat it. Sometimes aphids appear on the developing flower buds, but can be washed off easily by spraying with water. The flowers look good for several weeks and may be dried if cut at their peak. To prevent uncontrolled self-seeding, it’s best to deadhead carefully before the flower heads shatter.
More information about Echinops ritro can be found here.
The flowers are indeed globe-shaped, about the size of golf balls, and a metallic blue in colour. I’ve seen them described as similar in appearance to the medieval mace, but in 2020, a different comparison is inevitable. A fellow blogger alerted me to it in the comments to this recent post.
Globe thistle mingles well with other plants in the garden, especially with grey-leaved, drought-tolerant ones such as Curry Plant (Helichrysum italicum). In the dry, warm days of late summer, the foliage starts to morph into shades of yellow and rusty brown, which is somehow appropriate.
Here are a couple of other plants that look good right now
The photos in this post were taken on August 21st and 29th, 2020.
Fantasy Novels to entertain (or annoy if you don't like feel-good)
Personal commentary on political and social issues in western Canada.
Exploring the World of Fiction
About plants, life and gardening in Norway
- cream doesn't belong to carbonara -
Reviews of books...and occasional other stuff.
We are all just babes in the woods.
Fiction Author
Short essays about novels and other fictional works
Finding the humor in everyday life.
A great WordPress.com site
A journey back to basics, gardening, recipes and sustainable living!
Drift among the scribbles of writer Janet Gogerty
SteveTanham - writing, mysticism, photography, poetry, friends
Writing to know what I think.
work, life, poetry
If uncertainty is unacceptable to you, it turns into fear. If it is perfectlty acceptable, it turns into increased aliveness, alertness and creativity - Eckhart Tolle
Loves cats, writes mysteries.
Music and the Thoughts It Can Inspire
A harmony of hues, melodies, aromas, flavours and textures that underlies our existence!
Welcome to my world: digging, harvesting and other stuff
when literature and travel meet at the cul-de-sac
A tour of the natural rock and gem beauty British Columbia has to offer
Film, Music, Books, Art and Design
Writing writing and more writing
Life is make believe, fantasy given form
Notes on Seeing, Reading & Writing, Living & Loving in The North
This WordPress.com site is Pacific War era information
An anthology of life
Mental meanderings of philosophical provocateurs
Enter a world hidden within our own
Celebrating gardens, photography and a creative life
reflections of a crone
The musings of a Londoner, now living in Norfolk
Fibber, Fabricator, Teller-of-Tall-Tales
The making of a horror novelist.
Erik Kwakkel blogging about medieval manuscripts
WRITING LESBIAN FICTION, SCIENCE FICTION, AND FANTASY, SINCE THE 20TH CENTURY
Cindy Knoke
Exploring our connection to the wider world
The love of gardening is a seed once sown that never dies - Gertrude Jekyll
Writing tales of then and now and the in-between
Walking, cycling, nature, history ...
Restoring a 17th century home in Ipswich, Massachusetts (on a shoestring).
Immersive Tales for the Curious Traveler
the passions of a science fiction writer