Habit
AnoukHrm, Tela Botanica · CC BY-SA 2.0
Miss Willmott's ghost
Eryngium giganteum M.Bieb.
Also known as: Giant sea holly, Tall eryngo
Family: Apiaceae
80 cm to 1.20 m tall
Planted in a sunny, dry bed, poor, free-draining soils
Flowering: July – August
Full sun
Hardy, to about -18°C, biennial plant that self-sows easily
❓ How do you recognise this plant?
Miss Willmott's ghost self-seeds so abundantly in English gardens that it is nicknamed after a 19th-century gardener who is said to have discreetly scattered its seeds in her friends' gardens on her visits.
🍃 Leaves
Basal leaves heart-shaped, stem leaves deeply cut and spiny, silvery
🌸 Flowers
Small bluish flower head surrounded by a large ruff of silvery prickly bracts
🍎 Fruits
Small achene
🪵 Bark
Upright, branched, bluish herbaceous stem
🗺️ Distribution
Native to the Caucasus; widely grown in France in dry beds
🐝 Value for pollinators
Very nectar-rich flowers, attractive to bees and many foraging insects
✂️ Horticultural uses
Biennial perennial for dry beds, planted for its spectacular silvery ruff surrounding each flower, also used as a dried flower
⚠️ Possible toxicity
No notable toxicity known
🌿 Other Apiaceae to discover
ℹ️ Educational profile — do not use it to judge whether a plant is edible or safe.
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