Echinops can be an amazing addition to your perennial or cutting garden. The different species give an array of different heights and color, ranging from frosty white to bright blue. Commonly called globe thistle, this plant adds a sharp texture to the garden in its leaves, upright stature, and spiky golf ball-sized flower heads. It attracts butterflies, bees, and birds, allowing your garden to thrive with life.
It also is a great cut flower for immediate use and dried arrangements. This plant thrives in sunny locations with a tolerance to drought conditions. Once it is established it can survive with little to no attention, making it an attractive plant for the homeowner, the environment, and the viewers.
Globe thistle is indeed a perennial plant that grows in USDA hardiness zones 3-9. With its unique spherical blooms and low-maintenance nature, this interesting plant adds long-lasting beauty to gardens year after year.
As a perennial, globe thistle emerges in the spring from an underground root system that survives the winter. While many perennials only thrive for a few years before dying out, globe thistle can continue living and blooming for many years when given proper care.
Globe Thistle Perennial Features
Globe thistle has several key features that identify it as a perennial plant:
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Underground root system – Like other perennials, globe thistle develops a deep taproot and rhizome system that goes dormant in winter but remains alive underground. This allows the plant to re-sprout in spring.
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Herbaceous stems – The above ground stems of globe thistle die back completely in winter, leaving no trace above ground. But the plant re-grows quickly in spring.
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Long blooming period – Mature globe thistle plants bloom for months, from early summer through fall frost. This prolonged bloom time happens year after year.
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Self-seeds freely – Globe thistle produces copious seeds that drop and take root creating new plants. This natural propagation helps globe thistle persist and spread.
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Doesn’t need replanting – Unlike annuals that must be replanted every year, established globe thistle returns on its own each spring.
Identifying Globe Thistle
Globe thistle is easy to identify by its unique spherical blooms and spiny, gray-green foliage:
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Flowers – The blooms consist of bristly round flower heads up to 2 inches wide. Popular varieties bear blue, purple, or white globes.
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Leaves – The leaves are deeply cut and remind some of thistle weeds. They are covered in fine hairs and emit a fuzzy appearance.
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Stems – Coarse stems grow 1 to 5 feet tall depending on variety. Some types develop thorns on the stems.
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Seed heads – After bloom time, attractive round seed heads remain, gradually opening to release seeds.
Globe Thistle Growth Habits
Globe thistle exhibits classic perennial growth patterns:
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Emerges in spring – Around the last spring frost date, new shoots appear from the roots.
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Blooms in summer – Flowering begins mid-summer and peaks in July and August. Deadheading prolongs bloom time.
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Fades in fall – Flowers and foliage fade after the first hard fall frost. The plant dies back.
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Goes dormant in winter – Dieback is complete in winter when the plant is dormant underground.
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Re-grows next spring – The cycle starts again each spring when new growth resumes.
Caring for Globe Thistle as a Perennial
Caring for globe thistle as a perennial involves supporting its ongoing growth cycles:
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Choose a permanent spot – Pick a location with full sun and well-drained soil for long-term growth.
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Leave roots undisturbed – Refrain from transplanting mature plants so the taproot remains intact.
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Allow self-seeding – Let some spent blooms go to seed to generate new plants each year.
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Cut back in late fall – Trim dead growth down after frost but leave basal foliage to protect crowns.
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Water sparingly – Water during spring growth and summer droughts but reduce water in fall.
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Fertilize lightly – Use limited fertilizer to avoid leggy, floppy growth unable to stand tall.
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Divide every few years – Split crowded clumps in spring to rejuvenate and control spread.
Reasons to Grow Globe Thistle
Here are some top reasons to grow globe thistle as a perennial in your garden:
- Adds unique, spherical flowers unlike any other plant
- Provides months of continuous color from early summer to fall
- Flowers profusely once mature with minimal care needed
- Works well in borders, beds, containers, and pollinator gardens
- Tolerates heat, drought, poor soil, and resists deer and rabbits
- Attracts pollinators including bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds
- Looks attractive even when not in bloom with textural seed heads
- Saves time and money compared to replanting annuals every year
- Self-propagates freely, generating new plants each season
For an interesting, drought tolerant perennial that keeps performing year after year, it’s hard to beat globe thistle. Let this unique plant add its spiky globes of color to your garden for many seasons to come.
How to Grow Echinops Throughout the Season
Growth Habit: Echinops is an upright, clump-forming perennial that has thistle-like texture (thorns included) and a large taproot. It blooms from July to August with a spiky golf ball-sized flower head. The sometimes-branching stalks grow from a basal foliage rosette. If it is in a desired location, it readily self-sows, so your plant could start to naturalize an area. If that’s not the desired intention, Echinops blooms can be deadheaded (snipped off) before the seeds fall to easily prevent this occurrence.
Staking: Species that are 4 feet tall or less typically do not need to be staked. The stalks are very strong and durable. Staking might be necessary for taller species or stems with particularly large flower heads that can weigh it down.
Watering: Echinops is fairly drought-tolerant. Once the plant is established, it should perform great without any supplemental watering. However, during its first season of growth and directly after being planted, it should be watered regularly until it is established.
Fertilizing: No fertilizing is necessary as Echinops performs well in nutrient-poor soils. It will not harm the plant to have a mild slow-release fertilizer applied in spring if desired.
Trimming/ Pruning: Without any deadheading, Echinops will readily self-sow and spread throughout an area. To reduce self-sowing, Echinops can be deadheaded after flowering. To do so, simply cut the seedhead stalk down to the basal foliage. Deadheading early enough will encourage an additional autumn bloom.
Mulching: Mulch is not required for Echinops, as this species does well in soils with low organic matter. However, it is beneficial to have a thin layer of mulch in a garden bed to insulate, allow for water percolation, and suppress weed seeds from germinating. Though it is not essential, Echinops would be happy with this beneficial thin layer of mulch.
When and Where to Plant Echinops
Echinops plants ship as a bare roots, meaning the roots are exposed (not in any soil). The plant is dormant while this handling occurs, and is shipped at the proper time for your hardiness zone so that it can be planted immediately upon receiving. Echinops should be planted in spring, or early summer.
Light: Plant Echinops in Full sun.
Soil: Echinops can handle many different types of soils so long as they are well drained. Well-drained soils are sandy and loamy soils (most average garden soil). Poor-draining soil is clay. Echinops prefers poor soils to rich ones and will tolerate drought conditions. It can handle strongly acidic soils (5.1 – 6.0 pH) but won’t perform as well in basic soils (above 7.0 pH).
Spacing: Echinops is an erect, clump-forming perennial that can mature to be 3-7’ tall and 1-4’ wide (depending on the species – the kind we carry is a compact hybrid variety). Each cultivar has a particular range, so it is important to read how big yours gets to determine its spacing. As an example, if your cultivar gets to be 2 feet wide, space the plants every 1.5 – 2 feet.
How to Plant: The bare-root should be immediately unpackaged and planted. If a delay must occur, it should be kept moist (wrapped in wet paper towel) and in a cool, shaded location until it is possible to plant. The bare root should then be planted so that the top of the root system is about 1 inch under the soil. It should be well-watered until it becomes established.
Echinops ritro – Globe Thistle – Growing Echinops – pollinator party
FAQ
Is globe thistle an annual or perennial?
| Common Name | Globe thistle |
|---|---|
| Plant Type | Perennial |
| Mature Size | 2-5 ft. tall, 1-4 ft. wide |
| Sun Exposure | Full |
| Soil Type | Well-drained |
Do thistles come back every year?
Yes, some thistles are perennials and will come back every year, while others are biennials or annuals. Canada thistle, for example, is a perennial that comes back year after year from its extensive root system.
Will globe thistle spread?
Globe thistle will self-seed and propagate on its own if left unattended, but you can deadhead the blooms in early fall and propagate it yourself via seed if you want to control where it grows.
Is globe thistle perennial?
A stunning hardy perennial cut flower, with striking blue golf-ball-sized flowers on 2-4′ tall plants and spiky, thistle-like leaves. Excellent used fresh or dried in arrangements. Very attractive to a variety of pollinators; deer resistant. Drought-tolerant and open-pollinated.
Is globe thistle a perennial?
Globe thistle is a fast-growing, contemporary-looking perennial plant with spherical blue, purple, or white blooms that add arresting color to summer border gardens. Yet unlike other eye-catching perennials, globe thistle is drought tolerant, deer resistant, and an important nectar source for pollinators like butterflies and bees.
Can globe thistle grow from seed?
Globe thistle is a perennial plant, which means it will grow year after year. If you want to grow globe thistle from seed, sow the seed directly into your garden area after the danger of frost has passed. Space the plants about 12 inches apart and water generously when first planted.
What is blue globe thistle?
In this article, gardening expert Madison Moulton walks through how to plant, grow, and care for this amazing plant. A perennial garden is incomplete without Blue Globe Thistle. This flowering plant is native to southern and eastern Europe and western Asia.
Can a globe thistle be a companion plant?
Globe Thistle is a good companion plant for other flowers and plants. You can plant it in the same area or even alongside plants you want to protect from pests. Globe Thistle can also be used as an ornamental plant in your garden because of its beautiful purple flowers that bloom in summer. Planting in a Garden
How long does a globe thistle last?
Globe thistle (Echinops ritro) is in the Aster family. The large spiky flowers appear in early summer and last up to 8 weeks. They are perennials, so the plants will make long-lasting garden companions with hardy habits and minimal globe thistle care.
How many petals does a globe thistle have?
The blue or purple flowers are borne in capitula, with each floret haing five petals. The plant flowers from June to September. Globe thistle is a perennial herbaceous plant in the Asteraceae family. It is native to Europe, Asia and North Africa. The plant has naturalized in North America and Australia.