Cerinthe major ‘Purpurascens’

For many years the seed of this unusual annual, which can grow as a short- lived perennial, has lain dormant at the top of the Mixed Borders. Suddenly a large clump of the blue-grey fleshy foliage and drooping blue-green bracts around tubular purple flowers has reappeared. Being rich in nectar and pollen, these flowers are very attractive to bees and other pollinators. Common names are honeywort and waxflower, the latter derived from the once-held belief that bees obtained wax from them.

In the borage family, it is native around the Mediterranean.

The cerinthe associates well with the shrub behind it, Elaeagnus ‘Quicksilver’ with its lovely slender silvery leaves. This shrub exudes the most wonderful heady fragrance from its tiny flowers in June.