How to Grow and Care for Sea Thrift
How to Grow and Care for Sea Thrift Armeria maritima
Sea thrift, Ameria maritima, aka sea pink, is a flowering herbaceous perennial for USDA Hardiness Zones 4 to 8.
It is a member of the large Plumbaginaceae family of plants, which includes lavender-blue plumbago commonly found in the Mediterranean.
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A. maritima thrives with minimal water in poor soil and has a high salt tolerance. In the spring, it produces showy flowers in lavender, pink, or white.
Please note that all parts of this plant are toxic due to the species’ ability to absorb and bind heavy metals, such as copper, from the soil.
Read on and learn how to grow and care for sea thrift in your outdoor living space.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
Let’s start with some background.
Cultivation and HistoryA. maritima is native to seaside locales across coastal Britain, northern Europe, and the North American Pacific Coast.
Upright clumps of flowering sea thrift are commonly found growing on windswept seaward cliffs and coastlines, where the soil is gravelly, well-draining, and saturated with salt. Deep taproots hold them in place.
The foliage is green and grass-like with bare flower stems that sport bobbing, rounded clusters of five-petaled blossoms enclosed in purplish, papery bracts from spring to summer.
This slow-spreading, non-invasive species reaches maximum dimensions of six to 12 inches tall and wide.
There are numerous subspecies, like the pink-flowered California sea pinks, A. maritima subsp. californica, and pink or white A. maritima subsp. sibirica, which is native to Alpine regions and is found growing wild in Colorado and northeastern Utah.
Plant
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