Plant of the Week: Spring spurges

Their luminous yellow tones make the ideal foil for bright early bulbs

Among the rush of spring perennials, euphorbias – or spurges as they’re commonly called – are often the most distinctive and readily identifiable. They produce their heads of acid yellow, hooded or disc-like ‘flowers’ (really coloured bracts) in dense heads on stems clothed in blue-green leaves.

It’s a huge group of plants coming from a variety of habitats from sunny, Mediterranean climates and shady woodland to moist meadows, so there are types for all sites and situations. Habits vary too, from ground-hugging, creeping mats, to stout, upright clumps in the larger varieties of species such as E. characias, that grow up to 1.8m (6ft).

Flowering periods span spring through to high summer, but it’s in spring where they help make the most dramatic impact. The luminous yellow tones of the long-lasting flowers are an ideal foil for the bright blossoms of late-spring bulbs such as tulips or camassias, or early perennials such as geum and anemones. The flower-bracts often persist into autumn to add further texture, when many of the deciduous species and varieties, such as E. palustris, also assume orange and yellow tints.

Leaves can also be brightly coloured, either through white, cream or red variegation, which is at its strongest and most potent in new spring growth. The young shoots of some spurges, such as ‘Excalibur’ are also strongly tinted in red, orange, purple or bronze tones as they push through the ground, the effect fading as they grow and age.

Remove the older flowering stems of evergreen species such as E. characias in autumn as more will form each year. Cut the deciduous species back to ground level at the back end of the year.