Garden Talk

Bring Some Zing Into Your Borders With Euphorbia

Garden Talk with Janine Winlaw | Instagram @janinewinlaw

These fab foliage plants add structure, texture and lushness to the garden. Many varieties also have bright acid green flowers in spring and early summer that bring a zingy freshness to planting, beautfully complimenting purples and blues. There are many to choose from, whether for height or ground cover, sun or shade. Here’s my pick.

For Heigh & Structure E. characias wulfenii

This well-known euphorbia has stems of bluish green leaves (up to 1.5m high) forming a rounded shape. From March it comes alive with blowsy lime green flowers that will lighten up the garden with plants such Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’ or alliums. It tolerates some shade but prefers a sunny spot and is drought tolerant once established - perfect for a gravel or Mediterranean garden. E. characias ‘Humpty Dumpty’ and E. ‘Blue Wonder’ are smaller versions. E. ‘Black Pearl’ with dark black eyes and yellow flower heads is more unusual, or for a silvery colour scheme try variegated E. characias 'Silver Swan'.

E. mellifera

This is a beautiful exotic-looking plant with bright green evergreen leaves and rusty orange, honeyscented flowers in spring. It gets big – around 2m or taller– so it’s perfect if you want a large architectural structure. Combining it with spiky or large leaved plants or bold colours creates a tropical feel. It likes full sun or partial shade. E. pasteurii has similar long striking leaves (though slightly darker) and orangey flowers in early summer, but it’s smaller a 1.5 m in height. It’s another sun lover and looks good with yellow flowers or lush grasses such as Hackonachloea macra.

Lower Growing E. griffithii ‘Great Dixter’.

If you want a bit of summer colour, this is fab. The warm orange flower heads in summer are followed by red and orange autumn leaves. Or E. griffithii ‘Fireglow’ has bright red flowers for even more of a wow factor.

E. palustris

With its fresh green foliage and mass of bright green flowers throughout the summer months, this looks amazing with blues, such as Iris ‘Tropical Night’ or I. ‘Jane Phillips’. It reaches about 90cm. Or for flowers with more of a yellowy tone, try E. wallichii.

E. x martinii

With red-eyed flowers from March until late June, this striking euphorbia looks good with other dark red/pink early flowering perennials such as aquilegia. It’s compact and upright, at 75cm in height.

Shade Lovers E. Amygdaloides var. robbiae

Fab for brightening up a shady spot, this low growing (50cm) euphorbia is one of the earliest to flower, with dark glossy green leaves and fresh lime green flower that look great with dark purple tulips. Good for carpeting a tricky spot, though it can be invasive. E. amygdaloides ‘Purpurea’ is similar but has crimson stems.

Maintenance

Some evergreen euphorbias need to have their faded blooms cut back after flowering, while others such as E. characias need their stems cut back down the ground after flowering, to encourage new shoots. Deciduous varieties need to be cut down to the ground in autumn. Euphorbias have a thick milky sap than can be a skin irritant, so wear gloves and long sleeves. Wash off immediately if you do get some on your hands. Euphorbia’s do have a tendency to spread or self-seed - some more than others, but they’re easy enough to weed.