prickly thrift

I bought three plants of Acantholimon hohenackeri (say that five times fast) about five years ago, in 2-1/4" pots and a single tuft of leaves. The High Country Gardens catalog described it as rabbit-proof as the leaves are spiny and will give you a jab if you try to pet the cute foliage. It also described the plant as very drought tolerant. Perfect, I thought. I didn't think they were that spiny as I planted them. Neither did the rabbits, as two of them were mowed to the ground the first week.

This one survived, and for the first three years did nothing but grow a little larger. The next year it was about two inches across, the next year three. What is surprising, though, is not that it didn't bloom, but that it survived on not much more than rainfall alone. Still, I was a bit disappointed at the lack of bloom. The leaves did get spinier.

Last year it bloomed for the first time, and this year it has bloomed again. Although it certainly is not a profuse bloomer, it is a charmer. Here it is, just starting to bloom. Cleaning the fallen tree leaves off of the plant left me with a few sore spots in my fingers. I had to resort to using a hemostat to tidy the plant up for the photo. The plant is now 10 inches across, and the rabbits leave it alone. It has become a treasure.