Onopordum bracteatum
20 seeds per packet.
This year we are delighted to offer seeds of our tallest and spikiest plant to date! This is a majestic biennial that is native to Cyprus, East Aegean Islands, Crete and Turkey. It forms a magnificent basal rosette of spiny, divided, silvery-green, felted leaves and, in its second year, towering, extraordinarily spiny, branching stems crowned by large, rounded, thistle-like, lilac flower heads with large, thorny bracts. Flowering from July to September. It certainly attracts bees in abundance! Height 1.8 metres. Well-drained soil in full sun. Plants survived in our unheated polytunnel through winter extremes of -17C when other, more hardy species simply perished.
GROWING INSTRUCTIONS:
Sow from March to June. Cover seed thinly, press in gently and keep top of compost from drying out. Keep pot warm at 15 to 20°C until germination, then move to somewhere cooler.
Carefully prick out seedlings when they have developed true leaves and are large enough to transplant to individual pots to grow on.