Globe thistle

Value to bees

Nectar

Very high

Pollen

High

As a honey crop

Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus

Which bees, and why

Bumblebees dominate and honey bees work it heavily too, along with butterflies and hoverflies. A globe thistle in full flower is one of the most reliably busy things in an August garden.

Small tubular florets with nectar within reach of a honey bee, massed on a sphere that acts as a landing platform.

Worth knowing

Very high for both, over a long late-summer window, from a plant that requires no watering and no staking.

Flowering

In flower

July to September (northern hemisphere)

Six to eight weeks, with each head opening gradually so the plant stays productive throughout.

When nectar flows

Steady and generous, and the sequential opening means a single head remains worth visiting for a fortnight.

Year-to-year variation

Extremely dependable, including in drought. Not a crop.

Growing it

Conditions

Full sun, poor free-draining soil. Rich ground makes it flop.

Size

60-120 cm.

Native range

Southern and eastern Europe and western Asia.

Suits

Small gardens, Large gardens, Meadow or wildflower area

• Leave the seed heads standing all winter — they are among the best architectural forms in a frosted border and goldfinches work them.
• Cut back after flowering only if you want a second smaller flush; otherwise leave it entirely.
• It self-seeds moderately and the seedlings are easy to pull.

What it looks like

An upright clump of grey-green deeply cut spiny leaves with tall stems carrying perfectly spherical steel-blue flower heads, each made of many small tubular florets opening in sequence.