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Ornamental Thistles & Other Prickly Perennials
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Posted by
tahota USDA-5 Sunst-2b (
My Page) on
Tue, Oct 11, 11 at 20:14
Globe thistle is one of my favorite perennials.
Are there other ornamental thistles that are not invasive? I've seen a few in the wild that are amazing.
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Here is a link that might be useful: An image of some 6' high thistle with 2-3 inch flowers I saw hiking this summer.
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Ornamental Thistles & Other Prickly Perennials
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| Actually Echinops is very invasive if you forget to cut the flower heads off. What do you mean by thistles ? Everything prickly? |
RE: Ornamental Thistles & Other Prickly Perennials
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- Posted by tahota USDA-5 Sunst-2b (My Page) on
Tue, Oct 11, 11 at 22:49
| I never cut the flowers off my Echinops. I like to leave the seed heads for winter interest and feed for the birds. I get a few seedlings at the base, but I would in no way consider it invasive. I guess it depends partly where you live. |
RE: Ornamental Thistles & Other Prickly Perennials
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- Posted by tahota USDA-5 Sunst-2b (My Page) on
Wed, Oct 12, 11 at 0:19
Here are a few that I found looking on the internet:
Centaurea macrocephala
Onopordum acanthium (Scottish Thistle)
Cirsium rivulare
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RE: Ornamental Thistles & Other Prickly Perennials
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| Have you looked into Eryngiums? |
RE: Ornamental Thistles & Other Prickly Perennials
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| If a Centaurea is a 'thistle' for you, then you can check: Centaurea atropurpurea, Centaurea orientalis, Centaurea glastifolia(= Chartolepsis glastifolia). Centaurea salonitana is extremely beautiful, but a terrible runner(caution!). If you're interested in other Echinops than bannaticus, then check E. ruthenicus(syn. E.ritro ruthenicus), it has white stems and undersides of the leaves, and it has a more intense colour. White flowered Echinops don't look good after the blooming, the flowers turn ugly brown colour. |
RE: Ornamental Thistles & Other Prickly Perennials
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| They're not thistles, but for a similar look, how about some bulbs - Alliums, Agapanthus, Muscari and/or Hyacinth? You might enjoy some of the everlastings, Helichrysum, statice, Gomphrena. |
RE: Ornamental Thistles & Other Prickly Perennials
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| I don't like either Echinops or Eryngium ;-) The first is terribly weedy here and seeds out a whole carpet of babies the next spring. Not only are they hard to pull up (long tap root that WILL re-sprout) but they make me itch doing so!!! Then Eryngiums have been total flops for me- literally! Even in poor soil the flop seems to be an issue... Artichokes and other Cardoon relatives would fit the bill. Very imposing looking too! You should check out this site for more prickly perennials: Nancy J. Ondra's blog I've seen a number of posts there about that very subject. The prickly eggplant was pretty cool!!!
CMK |
RE: Ornamental Thistles & Other Prickly Perennials
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| Echinops are easy to drown in winter. Floppiness in Eryngium alpinum is individual - some plants stand up in an exemplary way , some are floppy. Luck of the draw. |
RE: Ornamental Thistles & Other Prickly Perennials
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| Please! don't plant wild thistles they are a big pain,ask any farm person |
RE: Ornamental Thistles & Other Prickly Perennials
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| I love my "Big Blue" Sea Holly. The steel blue colour that it becomes is striking. |
RE: Ornamental Thistles & Other Prickly Perennials
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| Speaking of prickly perennials, I may have to reassess my prickly pear patch next spring. I have several seed-grown kinds of Opuntia and one non-spiny variety. The prickly ones are loaded with glochids, those tiny spines that attach greedily and break off in your skin when you try and weed among them. Why am I giving garden space to something that attacks me? They are amazingly hardy and the naked one is already giving me yellow flowers over a brief period. The spiny brethren's days may be numbered, though. |
RE: Ornamental Thistles & Other Prickly Perennials
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| Anyone every grow echinops tienschanicum? (suppose to be like regular globe thistle.. except with giant "tennis ball sized flowers). I did see this spring.. so maybe next year have something to show for it |
RE: Ornamental Thistles & Other Prickly Perennials
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Here are some of my prickles......
Silybum aka Blessed Thistle...annual that reseeds
 Eryngium
 Echinops & Echinacea
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RE: Ornamental Thistles & Other Prickly Perennials
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| I have grown Echinops maracandicus. I could not see any difference between it and E. exaltatus. And I still do not know what is the difference between E.exaltatus and sphaerocephalus - they look the same to me. Some years ago there were adverts for E.sphaerocephalus Arctic Glow- white flowered with dark reddish stems. I have thrown it out as the flowers looked very unattractive(brown grey) as soon as they were pollinated. |
RE: Ornamental Thistles & Other Prickly Perennials
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| As the photo shows, milk thistle (Silybum marianum) has ornamental foliage. Wear thick gloves and long sleeves when gardening around it though, to avoid a painful lesson in thistle anatomy. |
RE: Ornamental Thistles & Other Prickly Perennials
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| The unique texture and colour of these plants make it a very worthwhile addition to anyone's sun garden. Here are a couple of my "Big Blue" Sea Holly from last summer. (This particular variety are self-supporting. They do grow tall but are 'airy' and don't spread much so you can usually find space for them in your garden), 
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RE: Ornamental Thistles & Other Prickly Perennials
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| Nevermore44, Echinops tienschanicum is described as only hardy to zone 6 |
Here is a link that might be useful: Echinops tienschanicum
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