THE GARDEN WEBSITE.COM
  • Home
  • About, Services, Contact
  • Blog
  • Ask Amanda
  • Roses
    • Roses
    • Types of Roses
    • Easy Roses
    • Climbing Roses
    • Portland's Rose Test Garden
    • Rose Insects & Diseases
    • Pruning Roses
    • Rose Sawfly
    • Rose Bloom Balling
  • Pruning
    • Pruning Tools
    • Winter Pruning
    • Pruning Grapes
    • Pruning Clematis
    • Prune Your Own Garden Registration
  • Lawn
    • Lawn Maintenance Schedule
    • Spring Lawn Care
    • Moss in Lawns
    • Lawn Grub Control
    • Lawn Reno, Seed & Sod
  • Mulching
    • Living Mulches - Groundcovers
  • Propagation
    • Growing Seeds Outdoors
    • Growing Seeds Indoors
    • Taking Cuttings
    • Seed & Plant Catalogues
  • Home
  • About, Services, Contact
  • Amanda's Garden Blog
  • Ask Amanda
  • Roses
    • Types of Roses
    • Easy Roses
    • Climbing Roses
    • Portland's Rose Test Garden
    • Rose Insects & Diseases
    • Pruning Roses
    • Rose Sawfly
    • Rose Bloom Balling
  • Pruning Basics 101
    • Pruning Tools
    • Winter Pruning
    • Pruning Grapes
    • Pruning Clematis
    • Prune Your Own Garden Registration
  • Lawn Basics
    • Lawn Reno, Seed & Sod
    • Lawn Maintenance Schedule
    • Spring Lawn Care
    • Moss in Lawns
    • Lawn Alternatives
    • Lawn Grub Control
  • Mulch & Mulching
    • Living Mulches - Groundcovers
  • Propagation
    • Growing Seeds Outdoors
    • Growing Seeds Indoors
    • Hardening Off Plants
    • Taking Cuttings
    • Seed & Plant Catalogues
  • How to Garden Topics
    • Fall Garden Chores
    • Planting Know-How
    • Soil Building
    • Soil pH
    • Watering Tips & Techniques
    • Drought Gardening
    • Sheet Mulching, Lasagna Gardening
    • Cover Crops
    • Composting
    • Compost Tea
    • Houseplant Winter Care
    • Hummingbirds in Winter
    • Winterize Your Garden
    • Ponds in Winter
  • Growing Food
    • Spring Veggie Gardening
    • Fall Veggie Garden Clean-up
    • Crop Rotation, Succession & Companion Planting
    • Harvesting
    • Growing Potatoes
    • Winter Veggie Gardening
    • Taming Tomatoes
    • Speeding up Tomato Harvest
    • Tomato Tips
    • Saving Tomato Seeds
    • Raspberries
    • Tomato Troubles
  • Plant Pests 1
    • Plant Pests Part 2 - Controlling Insects
    • Garden Inspections
    • Cloches
    • Helping Pollinators
    • Critters in the Garden
    • Black Sooty Mould
    • Brown Marmorated Stink Bug
    • Dogwood Anthracnose
    • Viburnum Leaf Beetle
    • Dormant Oil/Lime Sulfur
    • Japanese Beetles
    • Peony Blotch/Measles
    • Slugs & Snails
    • Horsetail, the Weed
    • June Beetle
    • Powdery Mildew
    • Soil Solarization
    • Rhododendron Leaf Spot
    • Plant Rusts
    • Black Knot
  • Container Growing
    • Choosing a Container
  • Feeding Plants 101
    • Fertilizers & Ratios
    • Nutritional Deficiencies & Toxicities
    • Organic Plant Food
  • Plant of the Month
    • Spring Flowering Bulbs
    • Colourful Fall Plants
    • Abelia
    • American Sweetgum
    • Ash (Fraxinus) Trees
    • Astilbes
    • Azaleas, Deciduous
    • Aubretia, Rock Cress
    • Aucuba, Japanese Spotted Laurel
    • Autumn Crocus
    • Bear's Breeches
    • Beautyberry, Callicarpa
    • Black-eyed Susans
    • Bleeding Heart, Lamprocapnos spectabilis
    • Calla Lilies
    • Catalpas
    • Chinese Windmill Palm
    • Columbine
    • Chrysanthemums
    • Crocuses
    • Dahlias
    • Dawn Redwood
    • Daylily
    • Delphiniums
    • Devil's Walking Stick, Aralia spinosa
    • Doghobble, Leucothoe
    • Dwarf Alberta Spruce
    • Dwarf Burning Bush
    • Elderberries, Sambucus
    • Evergreen Clematis
    • English Daisies
    • Fawn Lilies, Erythroniums
    • Fall Asters
    • Flowering Currants
    • Flowering Quince
    • Fritillaria
    • Garden Peonies
    • Garden Phlox
    • Ginkgo biloba
    • Grape-hyacinths
    • Handkerchief or Dove Tree
    • Hardy Fuchsia
    • Harry Lauder's Walking Stick
    • Heathers
    • Heavenly Bamboo
    • Hellebores, Lenten roses
    • Himalayan Sweet Box
    • Hydrangeas, Mophead & Lacecap
    • Jack-in-the-pulpit, Cobra Lily
    • Japanese Anemones
    • Japanese Forest Grass
    • Japanese Maples
    • Japanese Skimmia
    • Japanese spirea
    • Japanese Spurge
    • Kale, ornamental
    • Katsura Trees
    • Kousa Dogwood
    • Laurustinus viburnum
    • Lavenders
    • Lily-of-the-Valley Shrub, Pieris japonica
    • Mediterranean Spurge
    • Mexican Mock Orange
    • Montana Clematis
    • Mountain Ash
    • Oregon Grape Holly
    • Oriental Poppies
    • Oriental Lilies
    • Paperbark Maple
    • Pearl Bush
    • Persian Ironwood
    • Peruvian Lily, Alstroemeria
    • Phalaenopsis, Moth Orchids
    • Photinia, Fraser
    • Poinsettias
    • Primroses
    • Persian Silk Tree
    • Portuguese Laurel
    • Rose of Sharon
    • Saucer Magnolia
    • Shrubby Cinquefoil
    • Sneezeweed, Helenium
    • Snowberry
    • Snowdrops
    • Solomon's Seal
    • Star Magnolia
    • Strawberry Tree, Pacific Madrone
    • Stewartia
    • Torch Lily, Kniphofia uvaria
    • Tree Peonies
    • Tuberous Begonias
    • Variegated Wintercreeper
    • Viburnum, Pink Dawn Bodnant
    • Virginia Creeper
    • Weigela
    • Winterhazel, Corylopsis
    • Winter Camellia, C. sasanqua
    • Winter Daphne
    • Wintergreen, Gaultheria procumbens
    • Witch Hazel
    • Wood Anemones
    • Yews
  • Garden Tours & Such
    • NW Horticultural Society July Garden Tour 2024
    • Burnaby in Blooms
    • Burnaby's Century Gardens
    • South Delta Garden Club Tour 2023
    • Garden Club Events
  • Website Index
  • Subscribe
  • Need Help?
    • Gift Cards

Mediterranean Spurge

Amanda's Garden Consulting Co.

Mediterranean Spurge

Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii,Mediterranean spurge,spring flowering plants,March plant of the month The Garden Website.com,Amanda’s Garden Consulting,Amanda Jarrett
Mediterranean spurge puts on quite the show in early spring.
Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii,Mediterranean spurge,spring flowering plants,March plant of the month The Garden Website.com,Amanda’s Garden Consulting,Amanda Jarrett
Remove the stems once they have flowered to make way for more stems.
Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii,Mediterranean spurge,spring flowering plants,March plant of the month The Garden Website.com,Amanda’s Garden Consulting,Amanda Jarrett
The flowers lack petals, instead they have chartreuse coloured bracts.
Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii,Mediterranean spurge,spring flowering plants,March plant of the month The Garden Website.com,Amanda’s Garden Consulting,Amanda Jarrett
Water beads on the succulent, waxy foliage.
Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii,Mediterranean spurge,spring flowering plants,March plant of the month The Garden Website.com,Amanda’s Garden Consulting,Amanda Jarrett
Euphorbias do well in pots as well as the ground at VanDusen Botanical Gardens.
Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii,Mediterranean spurge,spring flowering plants,March plant of the month The Garden Website.com,Amanda’s Garden Consulting,Amanda Jarrett
Mediterranean spurge used as a focal point with blue lithodora in the foreground.
Euphorbia characias 'Tasmanian Tiger' Mediterranean spurge,Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii,Mediterranean spurge,spring flowering plants,March plant of the month The Garden Website.com,Amanda’s Garden Consulting,Amanda Jarrett
Tasmanian Tiger Mediterranean spurge looks good year round.
Euphorbia characias 'Tasmanian Tiger' Mediterranean spurge,Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii,Mediterranean spurge,spring flowering plants,March plant of the month The Garden Website.com,Amanda’s Garden Consulting,Amanda Jarrett
The Tasmanian Tiger Mediterranean spurge is a knock-out with grey-green leaves with creamy coloured margins. Chartreuse flowers with green blotches on creamy bracts.
Common Name:  Mediterranean spurge
Botanical Name:  Euphorbia characias  subsp. wulfenii
Form:    upright with rounded canopy
Family:  Euphorbiaceae
Genus:  Euphorbia
Species:  characias
Subspecies: wulfenii
Plant Type: herbaceous perennial, evergreen where winter’s aren’t harsh
Mature Size:  2 - 3ft x 1.5 – 2’
Growth: fast
Origin:  Southern Europe
Hardiness Zone: 6 to 9 (winter protection in Zone 6)
Foliage:  narrow, linear grass shaped with a blue-green hue up to 5” long that spiral around the stems like a bottlebrush
Flowers: chartreuse (greenish-yellow), lack petals but have yellow bracts
Fruit: 
Stems:  succulent stems that bleed a white milky sap that is a toxic irritant
Exposure:  full sun best
Soil:  prefers a drier well-drained soil, dislike heavy clay and wet soils
Uses:  rock gardens, water wise gardens, mixed borders, seaside gardens, deer and rabbit resistant, Mediterranean, deer & rabbit resistant, attracts butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds.
Propagation:  herbaceous cuttings
Pruning:  Remove flowers at their base after flowering to allow space for new stems,
​Problems:  Wear gloves when handling as their milky sap irritates skin and is also toxic. Pest resistant. 

Comments:  
The Mediterranean spurge looks good year round but steals the show when its stems are topped with domed with huge flowers clusters in early spring. Their blossoms are rather unusual as they are composed of waxy yellow bracts instead of delicate colourful petals. It is a bold and bodacious plant with plume-like blue-green foliage that spirals around the stems so they resemble bottle brushes. 

This plant originates from the Mediterranean where it’s hot and dry with gritty soil that drains freely. It’s also salt tolerant so it is perfect for seaside gardens, however, it does not like clay soils, soggy soils and shade, which promotes roots rot and its ultimate demise.
 
It’s surprisingly quite hardy to minus 15°C (5°F) and is suitable from Zones 6 to 9, however, it’s recommended to protect them in Zone 6 over the winter. If winters are not severe, it will stay green and not die back. If it does, it will regrow from the roots in spring.
 
If it’s too cold to grow outside, this plant is so versatile it can be grown as a houseplant as well as overwintered indoors. Just bring it outside in the summer so it can soak up summer’s sunshine.
 
Because it is drought tolerant use in water-wise gardens and rockeries. Plant among other sun-loving perennials, use as a specimen in early spring gardens and place in mix borders to fill in between shrubs. A valuable early flowering plant for bees, which love its nectar and pollen. Also attracts hummingbirds and butterflies but deters deer and rabbits. 
 
Wear gloves and be careful when handling any Euphorbia, including poinsettias, as their stems exude a toxic milky sap that often irritates skin and eyes. It is also toxic when eaten. Don’t forget to clean any pruning equipment and wash your gloves.
 
Propagate With Cuttings
Euphorbias, including the Mediterranean spurge, are easy to propagate from cuttings. The best time is in early spring before flowers emerge. Wearing gloves, make cuttings that includes 4 to 8 sets of leaves. Cut the cutting off the stem just under a leaf or node. Remove the lower leaves and the growing tip of the plant. Rinse the sap from the cut ends with cool water and allow to dry. This allows the cut tissues to form a callous in preparation for the formation of roots.  Place the cuttings in a clean pot full of fresh, clean potting soil that is 20 to 50% sand. Good drainage is essential to prevent rotting. Water gently and place in a bright location out of direct sun. Place it on a heating mat if you have one as bottom heat will stimulate root growth. Place in full sun when new growth emerges. Don’t repot or plant outside until roots fill the pot
Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii,Mediterranean spurge,spring flowering plants,March plant of the month The Garden Website.com,Amanda’s Garden Consulting,Amanda Jarrett
These early flowers attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.

Home


Terms and Conditions

 About, Services & Contact

Ask Amanda


Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2017
  • Home
  • About, Services, Contact
  • Amanda's Garden Blog
  • Ask Amanda
  • Roses
    • Types of Roses
    • Easy Roses
    • Climbing Roses
    • Portland's Rose Test Garden
    • Rose Insects & Diseases
    • Pruning Roses
    • Rose Sawfly
    • Rose Bloom Balling
  • Pruning Basics 101
    • Pruning Tools
    • Winter Pruning
    • Pruning Grapes
    • Pruning Clematis
    • Prune Your Own Garden Registration
  • Lawn Basics
    • Lawn Reno, Seed & Sod
    • Lawn Maintenance Schedule
    • Spring Lawn Care
    • Moss in Lawns
    • Lawn Alternatives
    • Lawn Grub Control
  • Mulch & Mulching
    • Living Mulches - Groundcovers
  • Propagation
    • Growing Seeds Outdoors
    • Growing Seeds Indoors
    • Hardening Off Plants
    • Taking Cuttings
    • Seed & Plant Catalogues
  • How to Garden Topics
    • Fall Garden Chores
    • Planting Know-How
    • Soil Building
    • Soil pH
    • Watering Tips & Techniques
    • Drought Gardening
    • Sheet Mulching, Lasagna Gardening
    • Cover Crops
    • Composting
    • Compost Tea
    • Houseplant Winter Care
    • Hummingbirds in Winter
    • Winterize Your Garden
    • Ponds in Winter
  • Growing Food
    • Spring Veggie Gardening
    • Fall Veggie Garden Clean-up
    • Crop Rotation, Succession & Companion Planting
    • Harvesting
    • Growing Potatoes
    • Winter Veggie Gardening
    • Taming Tomatoes
    • Speeding up Tomato Harvest
    • Tomato Tips
    • Saving Tomato Seeds
    • Raspberries
    • Tomato Troubles
  • Plant Pests 1
    • Plant Pests Part 2 - Controlling Insects
    • Garden Inspections
    • Cloches
    • Helping Pollinators
    • Critters in the Garden
    • Black Sooty Mould
    • Brown Marmorated Stink Bug
    • Dogwood Anthracnose
    • Viburnum Leaf Beetle
    • Dormant Oil/Lime Sulfur
    • Japanese Beetles
    • Peony Blotch/Measles
    • Slugs & Snails
    • Horsetail, the Weed
    • June Beetle
    • Powdery Mildew
    • Soil Solarization
    • Rhododendron Leaf Spot
    • Plant Rusts
    • Black Knot
  • Container Growing
    • Choosing a Container
  • Feeding Plants 101
    • Fertilizers & Ratios
    • Nutritional Deficiencies & Toxicities
    • Organic Plant Food
  • Plant of the Month
    • Spring Flowering Bulbs
    • Colourful Fall Plants
    • Abelia
    • American Sweetgum
    • Ash (Fraxinus) Trees
    • Astilbes
    • Azaleas, Deciduous
    • Aubretia, Rock Cress
    • Aucuba, Japanese Spotted Laurel
    • Autumn Crocus
    • Bear's Breeches
    • Beautyberry, Callicarpa
    • Black-eyed Susans
    • Bleeding Heart, Lamprocapnos spectabilis
    • Calla Lilies
    • Catalpas
    • Chinese Windmill Palm
    • Columbine
    • Chrysanthemums
    • Crocuses
    • Dahlias
    • Dawn Redwood
    • Daylily
    • Delphiniums
    • Devil's Walking Stick, Aralia spinosa
    • Doghobble, Leucothoe
    • Dwarf Alberta Spruce
    • Dwarf Burning Bush
    • Elderberries, Sambucus
    • Evergreen Clematis
    • English Daisies
    • Fawn Lilies, Erythroniums
    • Fall Asters
    • Flowering Currants
    • Flowering Quince
    • Fritillaria
    • Garden Peonies
    • Garden Phlox
    • Ginkgo biloba
    • Grape-hyacinths
    • Handkerchief or Dove Tree
    • Hardy Fuchsia
    • Harry Lauder's Walking Stick
    • Heathers
    • Heavenly Bamboo
    • Hellebores, Lenten roses
    • Himalayan Sweet Box
    • Hydrangeas, Mophead & Lacecap
    • Jack-in-the-pulpit, Cobra Lily
    • Japanese Anemones
    • Japanese Forest Grass
    • Japanese Maples
    • Japanese Skimmia
    • Japanese spirea
    • Japanese Spurge
    • Kale, ornamental
    • Katsura Trees
    • Kousa Dogwood
    • Laurustinus viburnum
    • Lavenders
    • Lily-of-the-Valley Shrub, Pieris japonica
    • Mediterranean Spurge
    • Mexican Mock Orange
    • Montana Clematis
    • Mountain Ash
    • Oregon Grape Holly
    • Oriental Poppies
    • Oriental Lilies
    • Paperbark Maple
    • Pearl Bush
    • Persian Ironwood
    • Peruvian Lily, Alstroemeria
    • Phalaenopsis, Moth Orchids
    • Photinia, Fraser
    • Poinsettias
    • Primroses
    • Persian Silk Tree
    • Portuguese Laurel
    • Rose of Sharon
    • Saucer Magnolia
    • Shrubby Cinquefoil
    • Sneezeweed, Helenium
    • Snowberry
    • Snowdrops
    • Solomon's Seal
    • Star Magnolia
    • Strawberry Tree, Pacific Madrone
    • Stewartia
    • Torch Lily, Kniphofia uvaria
    • Tree Peonies
    • Tuberous Begonias
    • Variegated Wintercreeper
    • Viburnum, Pink Dawn Bodnant
    • Virginia Creeper
    • Weigela
    • Winterhazel, Corylopsis
    • Winter Camellia, C. sasanqua
    • Winter Daphne
    • Wintergreen, Gaultheria procumbens
    • Witch Hazel
    • Wood Anemones
    • Yews
  • Garden Tours & Such
    • NW Horticultural Society July Garden Tour 2024
    • Burnaby in Blooms
    • Burnaby's Century Gardens
    • South Delta Garden Club Tour 2023
    • Garden Club Events
  • Website Index
  • Subscribe
  • Need Help?
    • Gift Cards