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Sea holly

skylark5skylark5 Posts: 5
in Plants

I've got one small sea holly plant I grew from seed and thats got the nice blue/grey leaves (no heads yet but as I say is still a small plant) and one I bought which is the problem one. Been in the ground for 2 summers now and all I have is a large mass of oval green leaves, no spiky ones you would expect, like I got after the original seedling leaves on my home grown one. I have tried chopping some of the leaves off to try and get some new growth but still no joy. Cant decide whether to divide the clump and try some in different locations or get rid. Has anyone else encountered this as I can't find anything about it on the internet.

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Posts

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117

    Hi Ruth - do you think you've bought something that was wrongly labelled? It does happen. What was it like when you bought it, and were there others to choose from all looking the same?

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039

    Sea Hollies [ Eryngium ] are hard to divide, as they have a long tap root.

    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190

    I would also think the one you bought was something else. They flower second year, so your seedling should flower next year.

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • RedwingRedwing Posts: 1,511

    I bought some for 99p at Aldi last spring and they have been wonderful!  Three plants which I planted in my Mediterranean garden (mostly sandy and well drained), I have been really pleased with them.  They have BLUE stems and the bees and other pollinating insects love them.  I don't really know what to do with them now; do I cut them back now that they have passed their best or just leave them over the winter as they are?

    Based in Sussex, I garden to encourage as many birds to my garden as possible.
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039

    I would leave them, the stems look nice frosted. Cut them back in Spring.

    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • RedwingRedwing Posts: 1,511

    Thanks Punkdoc.

     

    Based in Sussex, I garden to encourage as many birds to my garden as possible.
  • skylark5skylark5 Posts: 5

    Thanks for the response, Fairygirl . The plant I bought was from eBay, just one so nothing to compare it to. saying that, the leaves are like the early ones on the sea holly I grew from seed, which in the spring changed to the proper spiky leaves. It has done nothing in the flowering department. It could pass for a clump of campanula but no flowers whatever it is, just lots of oval leaves.

  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445

    How about a photo? maybe it is a campanula. What species of eryngium is it supposed to be?

    I have a lot of the biennial Eryngium giganteum, they are theoretically biennial but often are triennial (? a word) and are large plants by the time they get round to it.



    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039

    Interesting Nut, when does bi / tri  etc. become perennial?

    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445

    Maybe monocarpic would be a better word punkdocimage



    In the sticks near Peterborough
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