This sea holly is named after Ellen Willmott, the heiress and garden maker of the celebrated Edwardian era Warley Place in England. This garden, like most, proved ephemeral, and little survived, but her namesake sea holly still thrives in gardens all around the globe. A biennial to short-lived perennial for well-drained, even sandy soil, it sports decorative spiny, silver-gray bracts surrounding the large cone centers.