Put my glasses back on and, yep, they look like Echinops. Echinops are hairy kimonos with a stick like seed inside. I have never dissected Sea Holly - those are hairy triangles with hairs/spikes on top. Grow both - they are both great plants. I have several of each and really love them. I don't clean the echinops because I am very allergic to them and their little prickly hairs. Sea holly isn't so hairy, so it's a little better. It's my understanding that echinops doesn't germinate all that well and many of the kimonos don't germinate. I haven't tried to grow them from seed as they re-seed nicely for me, but others on the winter sowing forum report success, but not that great germination.

So, how has this one been performing? I must say, I love the 'idea' of sea hollies, but the variegated one I have planted in my front (jade frost?) is making me nertz. Any good rainstorm (and we've had some fantastic ones this season) and the thing is splayed down and growing sideways. And I am truly loathe to stake plants - I guess I resist that finicky side of things for some reason. Does anyone else have this problem? Though maybe I can invest in some good stakes and be done with it.

Afraid I am very slapdash - pretty much any handy loam based potting media - I have, in extremis, used old veggie containers (cukes or greenhouse tomatoes) as long as the mix doesn't clump, or waterlog - although I might add a bit of vermiculite or perlite or horticultural sand - I honestly use what's to hand. I avoid flats (or trays, as we call them) because they tend to dry out and also, the roots, having nowhere to go except horizontally, tend to splay out, entangling with each other - pricking out or separating seedlings is much easier to upturn the entire pot and the roots will separate very easily - I find using deeper litre pots - about 5 inches deep with 4inches of medium - maintains a fairly even moisture level. Finally, I rarely cover seeds - topping the pots with flint based chick-grit |(infinitely cheaper than horticultural grit). Tiny seeds, I sprinkle on top of the grit and let them percolate downwards - if you water from the bottom, it makes a good contact between seed and soil as osmosis (and gravity) tends to pull the seeds into the top layer of soil. The grit also helps to keep the surface moist and prevents moss growing (I tend to leave the pots uncovered over winter, outside to stratify naturally. I don't use lights, heat, hormones or keep stuff in the fridge unless I had some rare or special seed,

I believe you mean Eryngium rather than Eryngo :-) And yes, it typically doesn't bloom its first year from seed (a great many other perennials do not as well). I hope these are sited where you want as eryngiums produce a rather substantial tap root that makes transplanting tricky at best. And they will self-seed freely if not deadheaded, so do not be surprised to find them appearing elsewhere after they DO bloom :-)