Eryngium planum White Glitter (Samen) - Flachblättrige Mannstreu

The Eryngium planum 'White Glitter' is a perennial Blue Glitter eryngo species also known as flat sea holly. This variety is a white-flowered form of the high-performing and award-winning 'Blue Glitter' variety. It produces stunning ivory-silver flowers on silvery green branched floral stems. Its very bright colour is even more appreciated in its preferred conditions: full sun, in poor, rocky, and fairly dry soil. Graphic and highly decorative, this plant is valued in slightly wild areas of the garden or in a rockery. Beautiful fresh or dried bouquets can then be made with this charming plant. Sow in pots from March to April or sow directly in place from May to July.

The Eryngium planum or Eryngium armatum, also known as flat sea holly, is a plant from the Apiaceae family, just like celery and Möhre. It is a perennial herbaceous plant by its root. Native to the mountains of central Europe, in the wild, it is found in dry and sunny places, in very well-drained gravelly or sandy soil. A plant with an upright and bushy habit, the 'White Glitter' eryngo reaches about 80 cm in height and 50 cm in spread fairly quickly. Its root develops a rosette of basal leaves, petiolate, ovoid with a heart-shaped base, thick, toothed, dark green, shiny, persistent in winter. Tall dark blue-gray, branched stems, adorned with a few small spiny leaves without petioles, rise from the basal rosettes. Flowering occurs in June-July at the end of these branches. It takes the form of ovoid inflorescences, 2 cm in diameter, composed of a multitude of tiny azure-blue flowers, surrounded at the base by thin toothed bracts of the same blue, with metallic reflections. This flowering attracts many pollinating insects. The Eryngium planum readily self-seeds in light and well-drained soils.

The wild Sea Holly does not live very long (especially in fertile and moist soil) but naturally self-seeds where it likes. In a countryside garden, its colour and design are appreciated alongside tall Österreichische Königskerze with yellow flowers, small annual nigellas with enchanting blue, nepetas, shrubby salvias, as well as cosmos or roses. In a contemporary garden, it looks stunning with grasses. Cut flowers are splendid in dried bouquets.