WITH their distinctive flowerheads made up of spiky collars of bracts surrounding central, thistle-like clusters of tightly packed, tiny blooms, eryngiums are one of the most sculptural of garden plants. Emerging in midsummer, the flowerheads continue to provide interest right through autumn and into winter, as they fade from blue or silver to buff and brown tones, and they look particularly good when their jagged outlines sparkle with frost.
Packed with nectar, the flowers are a magnet for bees and butterflies. They’re also good for cutting, and if the stems are picked just as the flowers are starting to open they can be dried to
