Bilberry and Birch

I successfully grew several of these echinops plants from seed sown in spring last year, and they are finally just about to burst into flower. They are commonly know as the globe thistle, and when they do eventually bloom, each stalk with be topped with a ball of tiny deep blue flowers. In fact, if you look closely, you can just about see a tiny hint of blue, as the first flower starts to open.

In the mean time, I think the spiky pom-poms are very attractive, especially when you look closely and take in the details. They just look green from a distance, but in fact each tiny spike has exquisite silvery-grey highlights.

We have three or four days of warm sunny weather forecast, so I’m hoping that will bring the flowers on. I have been waiting over a year for them to do their stuff!

The plants are perennials, so they should come back bigger and better every year. If you fancy growing some yourself, I got my seed online from Higgledy Garden, a small business based in Cornwall, which specialises in traditional cottage garden plants, and grows without the use of chemicals.

You can see many more details over at the Daily Post blog.