creeping thistle
Cirsium arvense
RHS Plants for Pollinators
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Habit
- Erect
- Bloom season
- Summer
- Bloom color
- Pink, purple, white
- Foliage color
- Green
- Soil types
- Sand, loam, clay
Garden uses
Attracts
Notes
Creeping thistle (Cirsium arvense) is a perennial for pollinator gardens. It is hardy to USDA zone 4, or down to -30°F (-34°C). This plant likes full or part sun and dry to wet, sandy, loamy, or clay soil. Pink, purple, or white flowers open from early to late summer and draw butterflies, bees, and birds. It grows rapidly and stands erect, so give it plenty of room.
Pairs well with Ironweed, Buffalo grass, and Gladiator ornamental onion.
Native range
Europe, Middle East, Central Asia, Asia, and 28 more places. See all 32
Europe, Middle East, Central Asia, Asia, Africa, Altay, Amur, Azores, Baleares, Buryatiya, Corse, Cyprus, Føroyar, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, Kirgizstan, Krasnoyarsk, Krym, Kuril Is., Magadan, Manchuria, NW. Balkan Pen., Primorye, Qinghai, Sakhalin, Sardegna, Sicilia, Tadzhikistan, Tuva, Türkiye, Xinjiang, and Yakutiya.