IN THIS GUIDE
thistle are flowering plants characterise by their sharp prickles – some are plebeian weeds but many can be great additions to UK gardens .
Sometimes , the word ‘ thistle ’ is used to refer only to specific genera – Cirsium , Carduus and Onopordum .
And sometimes it is used more broadly speaking to refer to a wide compass of prickly flowering plants .
However you define the term , thistles can be very useful and attractive plants for your garden .
Even those commonly considered to be weed can be great choices to consider .
Onopordum acanthium
We will start by discourse a numeral of aboriginal or naturalised thistles that could be grown in UK gardens .
Then we will go on to discuss other plants referred to as thistles or thistle - like plants that you might require to grow in your garden .
Why Grow Thistles In Your Garden?
The first and most crucial thing to recognise is that some of the industrial plant list below can be rather thuggish – they can be trespassing plants and can chop-chop become rag weeds if you do not take care.1Thistle management and control . ( n.d . ) . Suffolk Wildlife Trust . find March 27 , 2023 , fromhttps://www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org/thistle-management-and-control
However , all of the thistle or thistle - like plants on this list are also first-class for wildlife – so it is well worthwhile considering giving them some spacein a wildlife - friendly garden .
thistle of unlike type are of import nectar sources for pollinators.2Life on a spear thistle . ( 2020 , August 7 ) . Alan Watson Featherstone . Retrieved March 27 , 2023 , fromhttps://alanwatsonfeatherstone.com/life-on-a-spear-thistle/
C. vulgare
When we are too zealous in getting rid of thistle or are reluctant to give them infinite in our gardens , we risk decrease biodiversity and contributing to the going of many important pollinator metal money .
The fishgig thistle ranked in the top ten for nectar product in a resume carried out here in the UK , and this and other thistles are valued by bumblebees , for instance , for their high ambrosia production.3Memmott , J. ( n.d.).Quantifying nectar imagination from the bloom to the interior scale . Retrieved March 27 , 2023 , fromhttps://www.agriland.leeds.ac.uk/news/documents/4_JaneMemmottnectarresources.pdf
thistle are also important for a range of lepidopteron , and are a favourite nectar source for several native butterfly , including the ‘ painted lady’.4Thistles , foodplant of cat of teh Painted Lady Butterfly in Britain . ( n.d . ) . Butterfly Friendly Wildflowers From Ladyburn Native Plant Nursery . Retrieved March 27 , 2023 , fromhttps://www.caterpillarfoodplants.com/thistles.html
C. heterophyllum
Thistle seeds are also an important food source for finch and other come - eating birds.5Vanover , L. ( 2022 , December 13).3 Types of Seeds and Feeders Birds Love Best . boo and Blooms . Retrieved March 27 , 2023 , fromhttps://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/attracting-birds/feeding-birds/three-seed-types-birds-love-best/
You might be surprised to get word that thistles can also be a human food source .
A act of thistle and thistle - comparable plant have edible uses and can also leave other yields in an abundant and fertile garden .
C. arvense
Native / Naturalised Thistles
1) ‘Scottish Thistle’ (Onopordum acanthium)
While it is potential to be one of the common plant life that saltation to mind when you think of the thistle , this national allegory of Scotland , select by Sir Walter Scott , is not really a aboriginal plant.6Scotch Thistle . ( n.d . ) . National Records of Scotland . retrieve March 27 , 2023 , fromhttps://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/archivists-garden/index-by-plant-name/scotch-thistle#:~:text=The%20plant%20we%20know%20as,accepted%20as%20a%20national%20emblem .
It is believed to have been precede in Europe pre-16thcentury and has now tame in many areas .
Though vigorous and often debate a skunk , it can still be a utile plant , in flush from July to September and noted for attracting wildlife .
C. dissectum
The flower bud can be cooked and eaten , though are a little fiddly , and stanch ( with rind removed ) can be boiled like asparagus or rhubarb .
2) Spear Thistle (Cirsium vulgare)
The spear thistle , unwashed thistle or crap thistle is the most likely nominee for the honest Scottish thistle .
This is also abundant in Scotland and native throughout much of the UK .
This also has great benefits for wildlife , and has define culinary utilization .
C. palustre
The source can be cooked and is somewhat consanguineal to Jerusalem artichoke – and the flower bud can also be cook and eat on .
The dry flowers can also be used as a rennet reserve in cheese making.7Rylander , S. ( 2021 , June 11).A Brief History of Cheesemaking with Thistle Rennet . The Cheese prof . Retrieved March 27 , 2023 , fromhttps://www.cheeseprofessor.com/blog/thistle-rennet-cheesemaking
Though it can be a pernicious weed , eat the weed can be a great way to grapple with them while retaining rude biodiversity in your garden .
C. eriophorum
3) Melancholy Thistle (C. heterophyllum)
A plant life come up in upland pastures in the north of the UK , it is mutual to see it in hay hayfield , loose timberland and along streams and woodland verges .
It could be another thistle to admit in your garden .
Unlike other thistles , it does not have prickles . Its leaves have a dense whiteness felt underneath and it has individual purplish , thistle - like flowers .
Carduus tenuiflorus
4) Creeping Thistle (C. arvense)
This is the most vulgar thistle coinage in the UK and is frequently found on disturbed and cultivate ground.8Creeping thistle . ( n.d . ) . The Wildlife Trusts . regain March 27 , 2023 , fromhttps://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/wildflowers/creeping-thistle
It spreads very chop-chop and is often considered a weed , but like the other thistles mentioned , it has great benefits to wildlife .
Its come are an important food root for garden and farmland birds .
C. nutans
Like other thistle , these too have historically been viewed as a human food source.9Cirsium arvense . ( n.d . ) . PFAF Plant Database . Retrieved March 27 , 2023 , fromhttps://pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx?LatinName=Cirsium+arvense
5) Meadow Thistle (C. dissectum)
The hayfield thistle is an herbaceous perennial that is small and slender , without big spines on its leaves .
It is a short thistle , up to around 80 curium in height , with single pinky - purple prime . And is commonly found on dampish meadows and grassland .
It could find a place in a similar habitat in your garden if you are in Southern England , South Wales or Northern Ireland .
Carlinaspp.
6) Marsh Thistle (C. palustre)
The marsh thistle or European swampland thistle is a marvelous thistle that produces a raft of ambrosia for a wide variety of pollinators.10Hicks , D. , Ouvrard , P. , Baldock , K. C. R. , Baude , M. , Goddard , M. A. , Kunin , W. E. , Mitschunas , N. , Memmott , J. , Morse , H. , Nikolitsi , M. , Osgathorpe , L. M. , Potts , S. G. , Robertson , K. , Scott , A. M. , Sinclair , F. , Westbury , D. B. , & Stone , G. N. ( 2016 ) . Food for Pollinators : quantify the Nectar and Pollen Resources of Urban Flower Meadows . PLOS ONE,11(6 ) , e0158117.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0158117
It thrives in damp solid ground such as stiff W. C. Fields , marshes or stream banks .
Typically the multiple flowers of this plant are purple though white flowers are sometimes also found .
Common Knapweed
7) Woolly Thistle (C. eriophorum)
This is one somewhat more scarce species of thistle that is found principally in Southern England .
It prefers chalk or limestone grassland and will do well in these conditions in a southern garden.11Woolly thistle . ( n.d . ) . Cumbria Wildlife Trust . Retrieved March 27 , 2023 , fromhttps://www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk/wildlife-explorer/wildflowers/woolly-thistle
The woolly flower heads of this type of thistle are patent .
Cicerbita alpina
The carmine - purple flower top spinous bracts that are covered in ‘ livid wool ’ .
8) Slender Thistle (Carduus tenuiflorus)
The slender thistle , also known as the seaboard thistle , pass course occasionally in the UK , mainly in coastal part .
It happen very infrequently inland . It is quite tall , and support small pinking bloom heads in compact clusters of 3 or more .
This is a thistle for coastal gardens with free - draining soil .
Echinops
A like and more far-flung metal money isCarduus crispus , the welted thistle , which is found in several area of the UK , southward of Edinburgh .
9) Musk Thistle (C. nutans)
The musk thistle is found throughout the UK but is most coarse in England and Wales .
It is a usual species of chalky ground and so could be a useful garden flora if you have this soil type where you live.12Musk thistle . ( n.d . ) . The Wildlife Trusts . Retrieved March 27 , 2023 , fromhttps://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/wildflowers/musk-thistle
It is common to see this plant on wayside verges or jumpy grassland , and it could be a good selection for a wilder , less be given part of your garden .
Silybum marianum
Other ‘Thistles’ & Thistle-Like Plants
10) Carline Thistle (Carlinaspp.)
The Carline thistle produces distinctive brown - and - prosperous flower head that resemble a seeded thistle .
This spiny biennial flora thrives on dry , chicken feed grassland in England and Wales .
They create pastime over a long period of time , the bloom heads look like a thistle that has live to source , but they are actually in full flower .
Cynara scolymus
And the idle heads then persist , often through wintertime to the next bound .
11) Common Knapweed (Centaurea)
Common knapweed is frequently found on all kind of grasslands around the UK .
It has thistle - like purple blossom heads and like the true thistles described above , attracts a all-encompassing cooking stove of wildlife including many native butterfly stroke species including common blues , marbled White and meadow browns.13Common Knapweed or Black Knapweed . ( n.d . ) . Norfolk Wildlife Trust . Retrieved March 27 , 2023 , fromhttps://www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/wildlife-in-norfolk/species-explorer/plants/common-knapweed-or-black-knapweed
It can be a great flowering plant to naturalize in your lawn .
C. cardunculus
12) Blue Sow Thistle (Cicerbita alpina)
A uncommon native of Scotland , the blasphemous sow thistle is a recurrent hardy to UK zone 4 .
It thrive in partial or dappled nicety and favor moist soil , and the limited situation where it grows in Scotland are at the edge of its native range .
It is a protected mintage in the UK – if you live on in the Highlands then perhaps you could be involved in preservation efforts by crop this flowering thistle - like works .
Eryngium
Even in other arena , it can make a beneficial garden works .
13) Globe Thistles (Echinops)
Echinops is a genus knowncommonly as ‘ globe thistles ’ .
They have spiny foliation and gamy or white flower head in a spherical shape .
Echinops such as the blue orb thistleE. bannaticuscan be excellent choices for garden plants .
They will do advantageously in a well - drained grime in full sunshine but will digest most soils in full sun , or light shade .
TryE. bannaticus‘Star Frost’,E. bannaticus‘Taplow Blue’,E. ritro‘Vietch ’s Blue ’ orE. ritro‘Arctic Glow ’ .
These are all neat pollinator plants and also beautiful decorative plant for a garden .
14) Milk Thistle (Silybum marianum)
Milk River thistles , also called blessed Mary ’s thistles , blessed thistles or lady ’s thistles , are robust perennials that organize rosettes of large , spiny leaves veined with white , and majestic flower heads .
Native to the Mediterranean , they can grow in a UK garden in full Dominicus , in poor to medium fertile , well - drain ground that has indifferent or gently alkaline pH.
It also potentially has a number of edible U.S.A. , though in nitrogen - ample soil it can accumulate nitrate , so care should be taken.14Milk Thistle ( Blessed Thistle , Mary Thistle ) . ( n.d . ) . Tortoise Table Plant Database . Retrieved March 27 , 2023 , fromhttps://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/plant-database/viewplants/?plant=447&c=6#.ZCGG2OzML0o
15) Globe Artichoke (Cynara scolymus)
If you were intrigue by the edible possibilities of some of the thistle listed above then you will belike be very concerned in growing globe artichokes in your garden .
Cynara are thistle - like plants that happen a berth in many eatable gardens.C.scolymusis the unwashed eatable globe artichoke plant .
The edible serving of the plant is of form the prime bud before the blossom do into bloom .
There are a number of edible cultivars that can be grown in the United Kingdom .
Artichoke core are a delicacy common in Italy and other commonwealth , and the leaves cover the choke are also comestible .
16) Cardoon (C. cardunculus)
The ancestor of the earth artichoke , the cardoon or ‘ wild artichoke ’ is another alternative to consider .
“ Solely on ornamental merit , the Cardoon has groovy presence in the garden , ” say Master Horticulturist Colin Skelly .
“ Even when not in heyday , its big silver leaf is a dandy foil for many other perennial . ”
The stem of cultivated salmagundi are also used as food for thought around the Mediterranean , and this is also a author for a rennet substitute used in cheese qualification .
The leafage stalks see like tumid celery stems . They can be steam or braise and have an artichoke like sapidity with a little bitterness .
17) Sea Hollies (Eryngium)
Finally , no discussion of growing thistle in the UK would be complete without some treatment of the group of thistle - like plants called Eryngium .
These spiny perennial are dramatic and architectural in form and some look superficially like thistles .
They can be great garden industrial plant which can be used to groovy effect in many garden schema .
Eryngium , also call sea hollies , will thrive in a very free - drain soil , sometimes even soils that are lack in nutrients .
They do well in full Lord’s Day . Avoid planting them in fertile soils , or in the shade .
Some Eryngium to develop in the UK admit :
Like the other thistles and thistle - like plants note above , Eryngium not only look beautiful but can also help you to make a wildlife - favorable garden .
This list is by no means an thorough one . But considering the above should help you encounter a place for thistle and thistle - similar plant in your garden .
Whether you want a native thistle , or something to summate drama to your garden without draw out of control , you should be capable to find the ripe flora to place in the right-hand military position where you live .
