I do like to be beside the seaside, particularly when Thrift, Armeria maritima, is in flower. Depending on where you are, this can be as early as late March and as late as early October, but Thrift’s peak flowering time In Britain is from May to July.

Thrift’s exuberant pink flowers have accompanied many of our holidays: on Isle of Wight cliffs, the Isles of Scilly, on Scottish coasts and islands and trips to East Anglian saltmarshes.

Thrift, Armeria maritima, Isle of Wight, mid May 2016.

Also known as known as Sea Pink, Thrift is very much a plant of the seashore. It’s a member of the Plumbaginaceae (Leadwort family), along with Sea Lavender (Limonium), another coastal plant.

Thrift is a native perennial herb with compact evergreen cushions of needle-like leaves and long stems that bear spherical clusters of pink flowers. It grows on sea cliffs, stone walls, saltmarshes and stabilised shingle and its distribution in Britain follows the coastline. It is lovely as it flowers en masse, often made lovelier by a spectacular setting.

Thrift, Armeria maritima, near Oban, late May 2018.

In East Anglia saltmarshes are often the best place to see it, though it grows on the cliff tops at Weybourne in North Norfolk. It can form extensive mats of foliage and on Annet in the Isles of Scilly, Geoffrey Grigson described walking across these as “a dream of walking on soft rubber that has squirted into flower” (note 1).

However, Armeria maritima is not just a seaside plant. It is very adaptable and can be found far from the sea too: on riverside shingle, windswept moss-heaths, stony flushes and on rocky mountain ledges, as high as 1,290 metres (4,200 feet) above sea level, on Britain’s fourth highest mountain, Cairn Toul in the Cairngorms.

Thrift, Armeria maritima, island of Kerrera (near Oban), late May 2018.

Thrift tolerates the salt in sea water because it can excrete excess sodium and chloride ions via glands on the surface of its leaves. It can also can grow on old mine workings because it is able to deal with heavy metals (lead, zinc, nickel, cadmium, copper, chromium and arsenic) by excreting them or storing them in the cell walls of its roots (note 2).

Although the wild form of Thrift has pink flowers, there are cultivated forms with dark pink, red and white flowers. We have a dark pink form in our garden, probably either ‘Splendens‘ or ‘Düsseldorfer Stolz‘ (a.k.a. ‘Dusseldorf Pride’), though it wasn’t named when we bought it. The variety ‘Morning Star‘ is white. Given the choice, I would go for the original unimproved, pale pink wild form.

Armeria maritima makes a very good garden plant. It likes well drained soil and is very drought tolerant, making it a good candidate for growing on a green roof. It is hardy down to -10 or -15 Celsius (UK hardiness rating H5) and can cope with acidic, neutral or alkaline soils.

Thrift grew very happily in full sun on our rockery in North-east Scotland. Here in Norfolk, the three plants we bought about ten years ago have now spread to give a low green mat of foliage in our gravel garden. They need almost no maintenance, just an occasional trim when they start to cover the stepping stone path. Our soil is sandy but the plants are in a north-facing part of the garden and are in deep shade for six months of the year. They don’t seem to mind, although they will flower slightly later than plants in a sunny spot, which is the position the Royal Horticultural society website recommends.

Mainly in shade, a dark pink Thrift, Armeria maritima, in our garden in Norwich, 28th May 2023.

The common form of Thrift is Armeria maritima subsp. maritima. Its flower stems are usually hairy and reach to 30cm (1 foot) tall. Each flower head is made up of a cluster of flowers, each with five petals, five pinkish stamens and yellowish anthers with cream-coloured pollen.

In the wild there is another form of Thrift, Armeria maritima subsp. elongata, known as Tall Thrift. It has smooth flower stems which can reach 55cm (nearly 22 inches) tall. It also makes a good garden plant but it is a rare plant in in British Isles. In the wild it is restricted to Lincolnshire (note 3).

In the 1950s subsp. elongata grew in at least 12 localities in Lincolnshire, but by 2000 most of these had been destroyed by agricultural “improvement” until just two sites remained, both within the same 1km square. Steps are now being taken to propagate plants and introduce them to nearby sites. One of these sites, Duke’s Covert, is featured on the Rushcliffe Wildlife blog, Wanderings, complete with a photograph of Armeria maritima subsp. elongata.

Outside the British Isles, Armeria maritima is native and has a widespread distribution in the Northern Hemisphere. Armeria maritima subsp. elongata has a more restricted range, occuring in Europe as far east as Ukraine, Belarus and part of Russia, from Iceland and Norway in the north down to Italy in the south.

The Plants For A Future website tells us that Thrift leaves are edible when cooked and that the dried flowering plant has antibiotic properties and has been used in the treatment of obesity, some nervous disorders and urinary infections. However, the plant is known to cause dermatitis or local irritation, so can’t be used externally as an antibiotic poultice. I haven’t tried eating it.

Richard Mabey speculates about the origin of the name “Thrift”. One theory is that it it is derived from “thriving” – the plant grows well in many places. But perhaps it refers to the way the leaves curl up to conserve water. “Thrift” also refers to economical management, economy and frugality and for this reason the plant was featured on the old thruppenny bit (British 3d coin) from 1937 to 1952. I used to have several of these coins but they stayed behind when I left home and I haven’t seen any for many years. John Grace kept his and there is a photograph of one on his Botany In Scotland blog.

Thrift with Small Copper butterfly. Island of Seil, late May 2018.

If you’d like to read more about Thrift I recommend the Botany In Scotland blog. There are some excellent photographs, including close up pictures of flowers, on the Wildflower Finder website.

Notes

Note 1 – From from pages 112 – 113 of Richard Mabey’s “Flora Britannica” (Sinclair-Stevenson, 1996).

Note 2 – Thrift is a halophyte – a plant that is tolerant of salt. I wrote about another halophyte, Danish Scurvygrass, in May 2016. Danish Scurvygrass has been able to spread along our road network because of its tolerance of their salty edges. Thrift has been able to do this too, but to a lesser extent.

The Wild Flower Finder website explores heavy metal tolerance in plants.

Note 3 – The BSBI map shows a distribution spot in southern England too, described in the the Rushcliffe Wildlife blog, Wanderings, as “near Aldershot”. Presumably it’s an introduction but I haven’t been able to find out any more details of this site – please contact me if you know more.