Thrift
Armeria maritima
Also called Sea pink, Armeria and Sea thrift
Garden plant · PerennialsA cliff plant, so it wants poor gritty soil and nothing else. Feed it or plant it in good border loam and the cushion opens out, goes bare in the middle and rots — the commonest way this one is killed is kindness.
Care at a glance
- Ease
- Easy
- Water
- Every 12 daysWater the ground — water at the base, in the morning, not over the leaves.
- Light
- Full sun
- Feed
- Not needed
- Humidity
- Low
- Hardiness
- Very hardy RHS H7, to -25°C
- Size
- 0.2 m tall · 0.3 m across
- Lifecycle
- Perennial
- Origin
- Coasts of Europe and north-west Africa
Is it safe for pets and people?
PetsNothing recorded against it
No animal-poison authority lists this plant either way.
PeopleNot checked yet
Nobody has checked this one against a source for us yet, so treat it as unknown rather than safe.
Checked against ASPCA and RHS on 2026-09-22. Where a source says nothing, we say nothing.
A guide, not veterinary or medical advice. If a pet or a person has eaten a plant and you are worried, call your vet or doctor now — don’t wait for signs to appear. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
First signs of trouble
- The cushion opens into a ring with dead brown thatch in the middle and all the living growth round the rim. It is too well fed and too well watered, not diseased — lift it, split the living rim off and throw the middle away.Bare centre · disorder
- A patch of the cushion goes fawn and stays fawn after rain, and the leaves in it lift away from a soft collapsed base.Crown rot · disease