Shop

Cynara Cardy is a massive, highly aggressive Mediterranean thistle that explosively builds a towering architectural rosette, commanding an enormous physical footprint in a single season. It features deeply jagged, intensely metallic silver-grey leaves that act as a phenomenal anchor point, before producing gigantic, electric-purple thistle heads biologically designed to support and feed heavy bumblebees.

You must plant this giant in a baking hot, south-facing border with deep sand or highly alkaline, sharply draining chalky earth, as the crown will rapidly rot in heavy clay. Because it strongly prefers mild drought over sitting in a soggy puddle, you rarely need to water it once established. If you want to preserve the striking silver foliage, ruthlessly cut away the towering flower stalks before they open, and always chop the rotting structure down to the soil line before winter wet sets in.

Please Note: When purchasing plants, please consider that each live item is unique and may therefore differ from the images shown, which are for illustration purposes only. The plant will be supplied in a growers pot. Depending on season, some plants may be pruned back to encourage growth and deciduous plants may arrive without leaves.