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Giant sea holly

Eryngium giganteum

Also called Tall Eryngo, Miss Willmot's Ghost, Miss Willmott's Ghost

Giant sea holly
Photo: Jean-Pol GRANDMONT, CC BY-SA 3.0

Giant sea holly is a spiny, thistle-like plant from the Caucasus and Iran, grown for its silvery-blue flowerheads. It is short-lived, usually dying after flowering, so it is normally grown as a biennial, and it needs sun and well-drained soil.

Family
Apiaceae (Carrot family)
Grows as
Perennial
Light
Full sun
Water
Water during dry spells while establishing, then leave largely alone; avoid waterlogging.
Soil
Free-draining, poor to average soil; tolerates lean ground.
Temperature
Hardy in temperate climates; tolerates cold winters, protect in very wet or freezing conditions.
How easy
Easy
Native range
N. Türkiye to Caucasus
Climate
temperate

About

Eryngium giganteum, with the common name Miss Willmott's ghost, is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae.

The short-lived herbaceous perennial thistle is native to the Caucasus and Iran in Western Asia.

How to grow it

It is cultivated as an ornamental plant for use in gardens. Both the species and its cultivar 'Silver Ghost' have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

The common name refers to Ellen Willmott, who is said to have carried seeds at all times, planting them in the gardens of fellow horticulturalists.

Other Eryngium plants

Amethyst Eryngo · Field eryngo · Spiritweed · Sea-holly · Giant Sea Holly · Button eryngo · Eryngo

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Eryngium giganteum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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