Forgiving Eryngiums

No, I'm not asking how to forgive an Eryngium which has committed some heinous sin. But saying how 'forgiving' a plant they seem to be.

Some years ago, I'd grown some Eryngium giganteum "Miss Willmott's Ghost" (or that kind of thing, anyway). Short-lived plant as it is, they've died out, but I collected some seed from them and sowed it in a pot.

I can't remember how many years ago that was, but they came up, and duly died down again for winter. Each spring since, they come up again in their pot, and I think "Missed my chance again - too late to disturb and plant out now." Well 2021 is the year! This afternoon, with the leaves just starting to show, I finally tipped out the pot, split them up, and planted around the garden (and some in larger pots). They'd only had about 3 inches of soil in their crowded pot all this time, and each had quite a thick root down to the bottom of the pot. They'd never grown to more than about an inch tall. It appears that they'd have survived for ever in this miniaturised state, but finally they've got a free root run - will it be flowers later this year, or maybe building up a bigger rosette for next year.

"Miss Willmott" supposedly carried seed of this in her pocket, and surreptitiously scattered it in people's gardens. I just read about Ellen Willmott (b. 1858) on Wikipedia - it refers to 'her' Eryngium as a "giant prickly thistle", which I think is hardly fair!