Blue Hobbit Sea Holly is a striking, long-lived ornamental perennial that offers interesting texture, unique color, and a long season of flowers, blooming throughout summer. Blue Hobbit produces a petite, rounded basal rosette of dark green leaves with branched silver-blue stems bearing spiny blue-tinged leaves and thistle-like egg-shaped flower heads with intense dark blue color and a collar of spiky blue-green bracts. The flowers appear in profusion over a long season, which often lingers into autumn. Nectar and pollen rich, the flowers attract pollinators to the garden, including bees and butterflies, but they also make ideal cut flowers for mixed floral arrangements. For the longest lasting blooms, cut the stems before flowers are fully open.
A Eryngium planum species, commonly called eryngium, sea holly, flat-leaved eryngo, or blue eryngo, Blue Hobbit has a compact, globe-shaped, mounding habit and will slowly spread over time. It's a great bed, border, or container plant that is especially well-suited to cottage, cutting, coastal, and rock gardens.
An easy-grow, cold-hardy plant, sea holly is relatively carefree once established. It grows best in a warm, sunny location with dry, sandy, well-draining soil. Winter protection is advised and good drainage is critical. Deadheading spent blooms encourages additional blooming.
