PlantSowGrow
How to plant and care for Euphorbia (characias wulfenii)
Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii
🌸 Flower
🔁 Perennial
A dramatic evergreen with blue-grey leaves and huge lime-green flower heads from March to June. The milky sap irritates skin — wear gloves.
When to plant and care for it
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Flowers
Timed for a typical UK garden (last frost mid-April). The app uses your own town's frost dates.
Growing Euphorbia (characias wulfenii): what it needs
- Light
- Full sun · 6+ hours a day
- Watering
- Water well until established, then in dry spells
- Soil
- Well-drained soil
- Spacing
- 90 cm
- Height
- 1.2 m
- In pots
- Only in large containers
- Feeding
- No feeding needed
- Hardiness
- USDA zones 7–10
Step by step
- On planting day
Plant
Plant at the same depth as it was in its pot, 90 cm apart, and firm in.
- 0–1 days after “Plant”
Water In Well
Give a full can of water, then keep moist for the first few weeks while roots establish.
- 7–14 days after “Water In Well”
Mulch Around the Base
Spread 5 cm of compost or bark around the plant, keeping it off the stems.
Every year
- AprilIn Flower
Lime-green heads — take a photo.
- JulyCut Out Flowered Stems
Wearing gloves and glasses, cut each flowered stem right to the base; new stems will flower next year.
More flowers to grow
Photo: Agnieszka Kwiecień, Nova / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
