A close-up of a bumblebee on a spiky, round purple Echinops ritro Veitch's Blue flower from Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden, with a blurred background of greenery and other Globe Thistle seeds.
A close-up of a bumblebee on a spiky, round purple Echinops ritro Veitch's Blue flower from Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden, with a blurred background of greenery and other Globe Thistle seeds.A yellow circular logo features a black and white bee at its center with bold black text reading RHS PLANTS FOR POLLINATORS—perfect for showcasing hardy perennial favorites like Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden Echinops ritro Veitch's Blue.A bumblebee collects nectar from a spiky, light purple Echinops ritro Veitch's Blue flower by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden, a hardy perennial grown from Globe Thistle seeds, with blurred blooms and green foliage in the background.Green and white circular logo with a trophy center, reading RHS Award of Garden Merit®, awarded to hardy perennials such as Echinops ritro Veitch's Blue from Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden.A close-up of Echinops ritro Veitch's Blue by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden, showing its spiky purple blooms against green leaves and a blurred greenhouse—a striking hardy perennial.
Perennial Pollinator AGM

Echinops ritro Veitch's Blue

Echinops ritro 'Veitch's Blue' — globe thistle; small globe thistle

£2.30approx. 50 seeds

Deep indigo-blue geometric spheres on rigid silvery stems — the RHS AGM globe thistle with intensified colour and larger heads. Drought-tolerant. Outstanding for drying.

Sowing months
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Height
90–120cm
Spread
60cm
Spacing
60cm
Position
Full sun
Soil
Poor, lean, free-draining — rich soil produces floppy stems; no feeding
Grow guide
How to grow Echinops ritro Veitch's Blue
Read the full guide →
About this variety

The selected form of the globe thistle, and the one carrying an RHS Award of Garden Merit. Deeper globes in a genuine indigo rather than steel-blue, larger heads, and a more compact habit than the straight species.

Whether the extra depth of colour matters depends on what you want it for. In a border, at a distance, the difference between this and 'Metallic Blue' is modest. In a vase, and particularly dried, it is obvious: the indigo reads as a solid colour where the paler form can look grey. If you are growing globe thistle mainly for cutting and drying, this is the one to take.

Everything else is as for the family. Rigid self-supporting stems at 90 to 120cm, thriving on poor dry sun-baked ground and sulking on anything rich or wet, hardy well below anything Britain produces, and mobbed by bumblebees for the whole of its flowering. It takes two or three seasons from seed to make a full clump.

Like all globe thistles, the leaves and heads are sharply prickled. Wear gloves.

Plant alongside

Echinops ritro Veitch's Blue pairs beautifully with these cottage garden classics

Echinacea Bravado
Echinacea Bravado
£2.30
Rudbeckia Marmalade
Rudbeckia Marmalade
£2.10
Bupleurum Griffithii
Bupleurum Griffithii
£1.95

RHS Plants for Pollinators

This plant has been assessed by the Royal Horticultural Society and recommended as especially beneficial to bees, butterflies and other pollinators. Growing plants like this directly supports UK pollinator populations — something close to our hearts at Salle Moor Hall Farm, where we see the difference a cottage garden full of the right plants can make.

Learn more at RHS.org.uk →

RHS Award of Garden Merit

The RHS Award of Garden Merit is given to plants of outstanding excellence for ordinary garden use. To earn this award a plant must be of good constitution, available to the gardening public, and perform reliably across a range of UK growing conditions. It is one of the most trusted plant recommendations in British gardening and a genuine mark of quality.

Learn more at RHS.org.uk →