Acanthus mollis

A true love-hate relationship. I had always wanted Acanthus in the garden for its beautiful flower heads and foliage – until I had one.

In our first spring here I discovered it half-hidden under a thicket of painfully spiky and ugly-looking yucca and I really felt sorry for it. Poor thing. No light, no air, no space! But after we got rid of the Yucca, Acanthus began to spread out over the whole area and made a run for garden domination.

And besides, it really dies back in the summer. Completely. Why plant something that disappears in summer when there is a such a dearth of plants in a Mediterranean garden?

I still think Acanthus mollis is lovely – IF it is contained in a well-delimited flower bed where it cannot spread easily. And if it is accompanied by other perennials that can take over in the summer when it dies back.

Anyway, we dug it out and now I’m waiting to see if and where it will reappear next spring, out of some of those weird rubbery roots that may have been left in the earth… To be continued!