Euphorbia characias Purple and Gold - Spurge

The Euphorbia characias 'Purple and Gold' is a particularly colourful selection of the Mediterranean Spurge, a naturally graphic botanical species. Dressed in bluish foliage that turns purple in the cold, it offers a superb contrast of colours between its young spring shoots tinged with purple and its spectacular inflorescences, made up of chartreuse yellow flowers adorned with reddish-brown nectar glands. Perfectly adapted to arid areas, this perennial plant is precious for creating the structure of a dry garden or a large sunny rockery. Both an accent plant and a structural plant, it will enhance all the plants that accompany it.

The Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii belongs to the large family of euphorbiaceae. It is endemic to the eastern Mediterranean (from the south of France to eastern Turkey). 'Purple and Gold' (synonym Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii 'Purpurea') distinguishes itself from the type by its bluish foliage that takes on beautiful purple to violet hues in winter and its young shoots also tinged with purple. This tall perennial with numerous stems will reach approximately 80 cm (32in) in height and 60 to 70 cm (24 to 28in) in diameter, with fairly rapid growth. Under optimal cultivation conditions, in fertile and moist soil, it can even reach a height of 1.50 m (5ft). From February onwards, in mild climates, large cylindrical inflorescences appear, with the tip unfurling into a crozier, blooming from March to June. Each 'flower', without petals, is composed of leaves and bracts, forming a cyathium of chartreuse yellow to acid green colour, in the centre of which are the brilliantly coloured reddish-brown nectar glands, which attract pollinating insects. The foliage consists of long, thick and evergreen leaves turned downwards, forming tight skirts along the stems. Both stems and leaves contain a milky juice that is sticky and toxic. This camel-like plant is capable of living for more than 20 years and self-seeds spontaneously in light soil. Plants from seed are not always true to the parent plant.

With about 8000 species, the genus Euphorbia is one of the richest on the planet. Few of them can acclimatise in the garden, but rest assured, there is enough to satisfy both the most demanding collector and the amateur who wants to garden without worries with perennial and hardy euphorbias for shade or sun, cool or hot, dry or humid. Just choose wisely. The Euphorbia characias 'Purple and Gold' is a robust plant that thrives in well-drained to dry soil, which can be planted in a large rockery, on a dry slope or in a very well-drained border with plants that have the same cultivation requirements: lavender, rosemary, rockroses, asphodels, teucriums or thymes. The acid yellow-green of its flowers and the purple of its foliage blend well with all blue blooms: perennial flax, 'Sappho' rosemary, Globularia alypum, or with the purple foliage of Pennisetum 'Purple Majesty', P. 'Vertigo', and large sedums such as 'Black Jak' or 'Chocolate'.