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Photo: Photo by Edward Lyon / Courtesy Timber Press
Globe Thistle (Echinops ritro)
Steely-blue globe thistle is a bee magnet. It's also great to grow for fresh-cut or dried flowers. Hardy in zones 3 to 10, this tall perennial adds structure to the landscape or garden. Lyon suggests growing E. sphaerocephalus if you want a bushier, mounded plant; it has rounded, silvery-white flowers.