Does Echinops smell?
Echinops ritro, or globe thistles, are loved by the bees, as you can see. But take a sniff and you might love them too! A soft perfume but lovely. Echinops ritro is a fantastic, reblooming perennial that produces many dark, violet-blue flowers at the end of elegant, curved, silvery stems. The golf ball sized flowers bloom more than once in a season, making small globe thistle perfect for at-home floral arranging.
Do Echinops grow in pots?
Echinops seedlings need a lot of root room to get started. Once the seedlings have developed their first pair of true leaves and are large enough to handle, transplant into individual 3 inch pots. For autumn sown seedlings, pot on and grow for another year before planting outside permanently. Echinops can readily be grown from seed sown in spring. However, like many perennials with chubby and fleshy roots, the easiest way to propagate them is to lift and divide the clumps or to take root cuttings into the greenhouse in winter and grow them on into growth with bottom heat in a loose compost.You can sow echinops seed in spring, either in situ or in modules, or if you buy as small plant, dig a generous hole, larger than the pot and add a handful of grit to boost drainage.
Does Echinops like full sun?
Echinops (like deciduous species of eryngium) grow best in poor well drained soil in full sun but they will actually grow almost anywhere. The best tip is to remove the flower stems or spikes before they set seed and die off. This will encourage a second and even a third crop of flowers in a single long season. Plant plugs in the spring after all threat of frost has passed. Most echinops establish vegetative growth in year one and then flowering in year two.