E. longifolia is in the same raised bed as E. palustris, and was planted at the same time. It's quite different in many ways. The initial growth habit is also upright, but as it thinks about flowering, it wants to sprawl a bit. The stems are not as large in diameter, but the same fresh green. The leaves are quite different from E. palustris, being larger and darker green in color, with a very prominent white central stripe, as you can see...quite nice.
This one also gets tall, about three feet (1 m). It needs a rich, retentive soil (one that does not dry out) in part shade. It seems quite happy with a couple of hours of direct sun. It's also deciduous, and I've not detected any particular fall color. But, with both these species, it is early days in my garden yet. You really can't tell what a plant will do until it has been with you for three or four years.
The flower heads are also much different - really more euphorb-like, than E. palustris Instead of bright yellow, they are a luminous lime green with a touch of chartreuse in the center, complimenting the leaves beautifully.
Flowering begins, in my USDA zone 7 garden, in late spring - early summer. After the initial flush, smaller side branches appear on the main stems with smaller flower heads so that you end up with a large, loose flower head.
Mine hasn't really begun to fade yet, although it is starting to form seed pods.
Apologies for this rather fuzzy close up, but if you squint, you can see the central glands and real flower, surrounded by the floral bracts, typical of most euphorbs.
Also newish is E. sikkimensis. I put it in a rather remote border and totally forgot it until last month when it started to elongate...so it got left out of my euphorb photo session. Because of the location, I missed the emergence of the basal rosettes, which are supposed to be ruby-red...rats! I will be sure to look for this next spring. This one also becomes tall, up to four or five feet (1.2 - 1.5 m), with a willowy form. Mine is getting there.
The leaves are quite similar to E. longifolia, having a pronounced central white vein. Leaf stalks are supposed to be reddish, as are the leaf margins, but I can't say that I see this in my plant. This may be because it is in light, open shade and does not really get any hours of direct sun. This is another euphorb that doesn't want to dry out completely. It's rated hardy to USDA zone 6.
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