Eryngium agavifolium

Dramatic and bold Argentina. An unusual and a bit spiky, yet vey hardy and beautiful sea holly. Long lived perennial forming rosettes of bright green, shiny foliage followed by very tall inflorescences of pale slender small more thimble shaped pom-poms. These can turn slightly brown as they age and form a nice dark brown arrangement going into winter. 1.5m with flowers. A massed planting in Tokachi Millennium Forest caught my eye (I haven't been there unfortunately). Certainly a patch looks so much better than just one. Loved by pollinators. These evergreen eryngiums come from South America and these all tend to be moisture loving (but with good drainage) even though they look like drought tolerant plants. They will survive in sandy spots in my garden and flower, but they reward you with exuberance and a faster growth if they receive more moisture.

Leaves: Agnieszka Kwiecień, Nova, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons