Euphorbia myrsinites
(Donkey-tail spurge)
I admit to being a Euphorbia addict…no wonder that E. myrsinites takes top-billing this week. This easy-care, high-impact perennial with its waxed, silvery blue-green leaves arranged in succulent spirals along thick stems slithers along the ground, just like our reawakened garter snakes.
E. myrsinites blooms in mid-to late April in the Hudson Valley (now!) with terminal clusters of sulfur yellow flowers cupped by lime-green bracts. Its unusual architecture and evergreen foliage guarantees attention right through winter.
At Loomis Creek we love perennials and annuals that self-sow and move about beds and borders willingly. (“Bang for the buck” seems appropriate in our current economy.) E. myrsinites requires full sun and well-drained soils; you’ll spot it right now at the nursery in the gravel edges of our borders where it creeps and knits together Verbascum (mullein) foliage and early blooming species tulips.
Two caveats: This euphorbia (like most) produces milky sap when cut or bruised. It can cause mild to severe dermatitis of the skin depending on your individual reactivity! It can also be invasive in some regions of the country, but not here in the northeast. Be advised.
Loomis Creek also offers other free-spirited groundcover euphorbias: E. cyparissias (cypress spurge), E. cyparissias ‘Fen’s Ruby’ and E. polychroma ‘Bonfire’.
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