Miss Willmott’s Ghost

Eryngium giganteum.  A plant loved by Bees.

This is a native of the Caucasus and Iran. Grown as a biennial it hasstriking white bracts which later turn blue.

Ellen Willmott, 1858 to 1934, was a leading member of the Royal Horticultural Society.

She collected large quantities of the seeds of this plant. Whenever she visited the gardens of her fellow horticulturalists, which was
often, she would scatter some of the seed when her hosts were not looking. Thus the following year this striking plant would appear
as a surprise.
Evetually her secret leaked out and it was then that the plant became known as Miss Willmott’s Ghost.