Euphorbia martinii Ascot Rainbow - Spurge

Euphorbia x martinii 'Ascot Rainbow', also known as Martin's Spurge, is a superb evergreen and bushy variety with variegated foliage and flowers, creating a fantastic multi-coloured effect for a good part of the year. Its green-blue foliage is edged with cream-yellow, but becomes even more attractive when its bi-coloured young shoots, brown and light red, appear.  This follows its springtime flowers which are green-yellow edged with cream and adorned with red nectar glands that cover the foliage. It is a drought-tolerant perennial plant that thrives in a very sunny or partially shaded position in hot climates.

'Ascot Rainbow' is a hybrid euphorbia, derived from Euphorbia x martinii and discovered in Australia. This shrubby perennial belongs to the large family of Euphorbiaceae. Martin's Spurge itself is a natural hybrid that appeared in southern France, resulting from the crossbreeding of Euphorbia characias with Euphorbia amygdaloides. Both species coexist in nature and are native to the western Mediterranean Basin (Portugal, western Morocco, Turkey).

This variety grows quite rapidly and reaches a mature size of approximately 60 cm (24in) in all directions. It has a bushy, compact, and dense habit. The flowering, which is very bright and variegated, takes place in April-May. It is colourful and highly distinctive, rare in nature due to the structure of its inflorescences: no petals, but brightly coloured leaves and bracts to attract insects. In the centre of this 'corolla', called cyathium, are the floral organs and four red nectar glands that form a beautiful contrast with the variegated cream and green-yellow bracts. This flowering is so abundant that it completely covers the evergreen foliage, consisting of long variegated leaves, hanging downwards, arranged in whorls along the stems. When temperatures drop in late summer, the plant produces young shoots at the tips of the stems, tinged with light brown and pink or red, which are particularly ornamental. The fruiting is a pendulous capsule that explodes to release its ripe seeds. The plant secretes a white latex, highly visible when the stems are broken. This latex is toxic, and it is essential to protect your hands when handling the plant as it can cause skin inflammation.

Plant Euphorbia x martinii and its varieties in light, poor, moist to dry, and very well-drained soil. It is important to avoid excessive moisture in winter, as it can greatly affect the hardiness of this plant. A gravel-rich soil yields good results. This large perennial is ideal in dry gardens, rockeries, or on sunny slopes. In this setting, it can be paired with early blue-flowering plants for a pleasant contrast, such as 'Corsican Blue' or 'Sappho' rosemary if you live in a region with mild winters, or Scutellaria altissima, creeping ceanothus, Anemone blanda, and dwarf iris if winter conditions are harsher. This Euphorbia also adapts very well to the edge of woodlands, in partial shade.