Golden Acre Home & Garden Centre's Plant Library

Description:

A very versatile plant featuring steel blue prickly flowers with gold bracts, that are a favorite for cutting fresh or dried; striking golden-yellow foliage; great for a sunny border or rock garden; plants can be divided every few years

Ornamental Features

Neptune's Gold Sea Holly features bold steel blue ball-shaped flowers with gold bracts at the ends of the stems from early to late summer. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its attractive spiny lobed leaves emerge light green in spring, turning gold in colour throughout the season. The lavender stems are very colorful and add to the overall interest of the plant.

Landscape Attributes

Neptune's Gold Sea Holly is an herbaceous perennial with a mounded form. Its relatively fine texture sets it apart from other garden plants with less refined foliage.

This plant will require occasional maintenance and upkeep, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. It is a good choice for attracting bees and butterflies to your yard. Gardeners should be aware of the following characteristic(s) that may warrant special consideration;

• Self-Seeding

Neptune's Gold Sea Holly is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Neptune's Gold Sea Holly will grow to be about 24 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 12 inches. When grown in masses or used as a bedding plant, individual plants should be spaced approximately 12 inches apart. It grows at a fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 3 years. As an herbaceous perennial, this plant will usually die back to the crown each winter, and will regrow from the base each spring. Be careful not to disturb the crown in late winter when it may not be readily seen!

This plant should only be grown in full sunlight. It prefers dry to average moisture levels with very well-drained soil, and will often die in standing water. It is considered to be drought-tolerant, and thus makes an ideal choice for a low-water garden or xeriscape application. It is particular about its soil conditions, with a strong preference for poor, alkaline soils, and is able to handle environmental salt. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid.

Neptune's Gold Sea Holly is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. It can be used either as 'filler' or as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, depending on the height and form of the other plants used in the container planting. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden. Be aware that in our climate, most plants cannot be expected to survive the winter if left in containers outdoors, and this plant is no exception. Contact our experts for more information on how to protect it over the winter months.