Large blue globe thistle?

deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b

15 years ago

Last year I saw some globe thistles in bloom that had HUGE blooms. They were over 3" in diameter for sure and the plant itself was 5' tall. I have some Blue Globe Thistle in bloom now, but they are pretty small, about 2' and the blooms are very small, like less than 2". My variety is probably 'Blue Glow' assuming Swallow Tail Seeds hasn't changed its varieties for a couple of years, and it's supposed to be taller, but maybe not 5' tall. They like acidic soils and mine are in acidic soils right now. Is there a variety of Blue Globe Thistle that is huge? Do the blooms increase in diameter as they age? I'd love to have some of those mongo balls in the garden!

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Comments (4)

arbo_retum
15 years ago
i own and have seen plenty of 5' H echinops but have never seen a 3" globe.
mindy
www.cottonarboretum.com/
runktrun
15 years ago
deanna,
You have me intrigued so I went searching through my library and the internet and what I discovered was the perennial Echinops was like the overlooked/invisible middle child of the perennial world. However Echinops can be annuals, biennials, or perennials so I am thinking the Echinops you saw in someoneÃ¯Â¿Â½s garden was likely an annual or biennial. I will continue to poke around and see what I come up with because like you I would LOVE some big blue balls in my garden (Hey get your mind out of the gutter)
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deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b
Original Author
15 years ago
I'm wondering if my mind was in the gutter when I saw them, and I'm thinking I should try to swing by that store sometime just to double check. Maybe I'm just remembering gigantic balls, but they were in reality only average. I do know they were very tall, for sure!

Now we know why they call this shape a "globe" flower. It does get a little humorous for people to exchange thoughts on big balls. Big globes...that ain't gonna inspire any embarrassed twittering, for sure.
diggingthedirt
15 years ago
Any chance it was a cardoon, or an artichoke, and not an echinops?