Star Plant of the Show

There’s always a plant that appears in several show gardens and catches my eye.  Last year it was Silene fimbriata,  a dry-shade-loving campion with frilly-edged white flowers, that is now thriving in my garden.  This year it’s Euphorbia x pasteurii   which is a cross between the lovely, honey-scented but large Euphorbia mellifera  and the handsome  Euphorbia stygiana.  As a bit of a fan of euphorbias, I have both growing in my garden, as well as E. palustris, E.myrsinites and E. schillingii, so even now one of the many seedlings around the garden may be a naturally occurring x pasteurii , but just in case it isn’t, I’m getting my order in now.  I asked Peter Clay from Crocus about it and he said it has all the virtues of mellifera  but is more compact with a more open flowerhead.  While not entirely hardy, if you can grow mellifera  without losing it, you will be able to grow  x pasteurii.