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A Prickly History

The legend behind the dramatic garden skeletons of ‘Miss Willmott’s Ghost’

By this time of the year all but the hardiest annuals have succumbed, and most perennials have gone dormant. Of all the standing stems and seed heads that remain in the sodden October landscape, the spectral skeletons of ‘Miss Willmott’s Ghost’ (Eryngium giganteum) are some of the most impressive.

Taller than most other cultivated garden thistles, the plant bears large silvery-blue cones in summer, each flowerhead resting atop a spikey ruff of brutally sharp silver bracts that lets you know if you venture too close as you’re tending the garden. Bleached by the end of summer, the dramatic dried stalks persist until wind and rain turn them to stubble. The plant has a commanding presence, and while it dies after flowering, a generous crop of seeds ensures subsequent generations.

Legend has it that ‘Miss Willmott’s Ghost’ was named for an eccentric and prickly 19th Century horticulturist. Ellen Willmott was born into a garden-loving family and from an early age she could be found plotting and planting alongside her father at Warley Place, the family’s estate in Essex. A wealthy heiress by the time she turned 30, Willmott devoted her life to learning about (and acquiring) plants, travel, and creating gardens at properties she purchased in France and Italy in addition to maintaining the grounds at Warley Place.

Single throughout her life, Wilmott was married to her passion for plants and said to be both competitive and jealous, traits that earned her a reputation for being difficult.

So, how did name of the wealthy lady botanist become attached to a giant thistle? Supposedly, while visiting gardens Willmott would surreptitiously drop seed of the giant thistle from her pockets to disrupt manicured planting schemes. A guerrilla gardening tactic that only became evident later when thistles would sprout in carefully tended borders. While it’s an obvious metaphor for a “difficult” woman, the association seems a bit mean spirited and in recent years its basis in truth has been called into question.

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GROW in The Seattle Times