Photo of Euphorbia
 

From March to May the bright green froth of 'flowers' on Euphorbia brings a freshness to your garden. This is particularly welcome early on when euphorbias are amongst the first plants in your garden to commence spring flowering.

Growing Euphorbias

Euphorbias prefer free draining soil and lots of direct sunshine but in my garden seem to grow equally well in poor, dry soils or wet clay and survive both wet, winter cold and  hot, dry summers. It really is one of the easiest plants to grow and whilst it is unlikely to become one of your favourite plants its distinctive and architectural forms and fresh green 'flower' colour add shape and colour to your garden.

euphorbia in a mixed border

Whilst it is not one of my favourite plants I probably have more euphorbia than any other plant in my garden. This is because euphorbia is one of the first plants to flower, its fresh green brachts herald the end of winter and provide some welcome colour to the garden.

The lime green brachts are also the perfect foil to virtually every flower in the garden, not only providing a contrasting colour to accentuate your colour scheme but also adding some welcome luminosity to the borders.

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In the autumn the plants and fading brachts turn orange-brown and add to the autumnul hues in the garden and in winter the leaves remain adding some structure to winter borders.

All in all a really useful plant and if you haven't got it in your garden you really should give it a go.

Propagating Euphorbias

It could not be easier to propogate euphorbia as it self-seeds profusely and the small seedlings transfer easily. Try to move with a little soil attached to the roots and keep well watered for a week or two and then they can be left to their own devices.

There are a wide range of euphorbias from tiny plants shrubs. Mostly they have green leaves with a lime-green flower bracts but some have an orange tint for example E. griffithii 'Fireglow'

Photos of Euphorbia

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