Globularia cordifolia is a mat-forming alpine from central and southern Europe. It only gets about 1-2" tall, pale grey-blue flowers with faint mauve coloration in late spring stick up only to about 4". They look prickly but are soft. Hardy zones 4-9, and usually is evergreen. It has been given an AGM (Award of Garden Merit) by the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society).
My plant tag (from Monrovia) says full to part sun, RHS says sun. I have it in mostly shade, it gets sun only after about 3 pm and it seems fine. Unlike many "alpines" this seems quite tough and unfussy (to survive in my yard it has to be!). The RHS says it likes neutral to alkaline (chalk) soil, but I have acid soil. It supposedly likes sand and "sharp" drainage, yet survives here. My soil is unamended acid clay and builders rubble on a slight slope, but I planted it by a rock walkway I made,so the area it is creeping over has about an inch of gravel on top of the clay. Here is Seattle it is wet 8 months, then dry all summer, yet this little plant seems quite happy.
I take a pair of scissors to it after flowering to remove the old flowers. That is all the care I have ever done. It has never seeded around, possibly because I never let it!. This clump is ? 5 years old from a 4" pot, so it spreads slowly. It gets watered occasionally. Monrovia says to water when the top 3" of soil is dry. It never looks thirsty or suffers in the winter for me.
The charmer is not listed in my usual perennial books, but I think it deserves wider use! Especially you mid-westerners and westerners with alkali soil might want to try it.
Here are some photos. The flowers are a bit bluer than shown. I got a new camera this spring, will make sure to get better photos next year.
Photos #1, #2 in May
#3, #4 in August
