I planted 6 E.ritro this June - so still a newbie to them; they're blooming now, but are shorter than I expected (just knee-high) - hoping they'll get taller next year. Have heard warnings of lower leaves going ugly and needing another plant in front of them. Well, mine are just getting greener - they looked yellow and sickly when in pots. Long taproot, like a dandelion's, and don't like to be moved.
Planted May Night salvia and Mars Midget knautia in front, Silver Queen artemisia and red valerian on the side, looks kinda cute. Will add Russian sage.
Comparing these to Eryngium tripartitum (similarly blue, thorny and drought-tolerant) which I also have, the latter seems to have more visual "punch" now, but they're older plants, so it may be too early to say.

I bought a 'Blue Glow' Echinops several years ago on sale. I have it in a little garden strip on the West side of my house. Some of the leaves do tend to discolor and yellow. Its difficult to remove them, as the leaves are so uncomfortably prickly. The discoloration doesnt bother me too much, as one can only see this plant in my yard if there driving by or I go out there to look.
I would suggest planting this tward the back of the boarder. Mine is more than 3ft. But I saw a really established one near here that was 4ft. tall with a similar spread. Mine has reseeded REALLY well. You can transplant the seedlings when there young, and dont have much of a tap-root developed yet.
At first I wasnt crazy about this plant, but now I love it. Its blue globular flowers are beautiful!
Ps. Theres also an interesting one out called 'Artic Glow' that has white flowers and reddish stems. Hope this helps!
CMK

I have three Echinops Ritro in my garden, and I love this plant! Mine are about 8 years old now, and they're as tall as I am (5'6"), so it's definitely a back of the border plant (though there might be other kinds that don't get this tall). They get covered with beautiful blue flowers that bloom in late July and last a really long time. I leave the seed pods because the gold finches like them, and they add some nice structure to the fall garden.

They like good drainage (I lost one that was getting too much moisture because it was planted in a low spot in the garden and it was getting runoff from higher ground around it). And, they do have a long taproot which makes them hard to move (you just need to dig a really big root ball, and try to minimize breakage when you lift it out of the soil), but they're not all that fussy if you do move them - they wilt for a few days but come back nicely with a tiny bit of TLC.

I have coneflowers (purple and white) and rudbeckia planted in front and alongside them, with luxuriant bleeding heart in front of those, and I love what they all look like together.

I get some seeding, but it's not a lot (the mulch helps control it, I think), and they're easy to yank when they're little (just wear gloves).

I love my echinops 'Ritro' too. It is in an "inferno" bed -- hot, skinny strip between 2 driveways, that never gets compost or irrigation. It is beautiful with daylilies, achillea, echinacea, etc.

I just planted some Arctic Glow at my SIL's in Northern CA. I hope she'll love them as much as I love mine!

Here's a pic from a Garden Conservancy Open Garden in July 07:
{{gwi:266807}}

And another *gorgeous* one:
{{gwi:266808}}

I'll look thru some more photos and see if I can find some interesting pics.

I planted Ritro last year. I lost a few this year to all the rainfall. I love them, but the bees, butterflies and even the hummingbirds love them more!

These are beside a crape myrtle, but other dark burgundy foliage plants would work, too. I have moved one beside my crocosmia 'lucifer' but it will be next year before that one blooms as it was too shaded by a taller perennial in a previous place.

Plant them high and dry. I was sad to see so many of my seedlings turn to mush from all the rain. I thought that being on a slope that they would be okay. This big one is fine.

Cameron
{{gwi:266809}}

{{gwi:266811}}

Here is a link that might be useful: my garden

Thanks all! I went ahead and picked one up today, Ritro. :0)

This Spring I planted Arctic glow and Ritro from seed. My front yard has very sandy soil and a fair amount of sun, so I need plants that tolerate dry conditions. I also like the idea of plants that don't require too much attention (and water). I've planted them with yarrow, coneflowers, sea holly and sedum. To me, they seem to be one of those plants that add something different to the landscape, kind of tough and "steely" looking.

I planted 4 little starts in the butterfly garden in late May. They were eaten down by rabbits and/or groundhogs a few times but the basal rosettes, if that's what you can call Echinops foliage, are full now.

No flowers this year and don't know why I expected them first year.

The foliage gets pretty ratty but there are slugs in that garden and not much I can do about them without risking injury to Monarch caterpillars who I've occasionally seen meander on ground from one milkweed patch to another.

Can't wait to see flowers next year provided they survive their first winter.