Goniolimon tataricum

Goniolimon tataricum, also known as limonium or perennial statice, is a light and airy plant, highly ornamental when its long stems with cloud-like inflorescences composed of hundreds of small blue-lilac flowers appear in summer. It forms beautiful, evergreen, rounded and regular rosettes on a woody stump. It prefers sandy, porous, dry, well-drained soil and a sunny exposure. This plant, highly appreciated for making dried bouquets and very useful by the seaside, is also hardy and easy to grow.

The perennial Tartarian statice belongs to the family Plumbaginaceae. The steppes of Southeast Europe, the Caucasus, Russia, and North Africa are the birthplaces of this plant. It is a perennial herbaceous plant that forms dense, ground-hugging rosettes. It reaches a height of 40cm (16in) when in flower and slowly expands like a tight cushion over an area of 40cm (16in) on the ground. In July-August, tall, ramified stems appear, carrying light corymbs composed of tiny paper-like flowers. The plant then transforms into an incredible blue-lavender cloud. The foliage is evergreen, with lanceolate rounded leaves, a beautiful dark green colour with bluish reflections, sometimes turning red in cases of drought. It anchors itself on a buried central stump, which allows it to store water and nutrients to survive in dry or very salty soil.

Goniolimon tataricum is a long-lasting perennial, adapted to difficult conditions, and irreplaceable in dry gardens, rockeries, perennial borders that it brightens, gardens with shallow soil, in rocks, or by the seaside. This plant produces flower stems that make admirable dried bouquets. It can accompany the summer blooms of Anthemis carpatica 'Karpatenschnee', sea thrifts, Coreopsis verticillata 'Moonbeam', Helichrysum italicum, hyssops, oreganos, and Talinum calycinum, a rare pink flower that blooms continuously. It will enhance old roses, the somewhat heavy blooms of oriental poppies, or the candles of acanthus and hybrid mulleins. In a light border, it can be paired with Linaria 'Canon Went', Centaurea atropurpurea or pulcherrima, Knautia macedonica, or the majestic Geranium psilostemon.