My Echium Pininana Disaster
This statuesque and architectural flowering plant is commonly known as “Giant Vipers Bugloss” and is native to the Canary Islands. This particular variety of echium can be biennial or perennial producing flower spikes of up to 4 m in height. After the plant has flowered, it sheds its seeds and dies. It’s wise to collect up the seeds otherwise this plant will try to colonise your garden.
I first saw these when walking around the Bishop’s Palace Gardens in Chichester, here in West Sussex. It was one of the most stunning plants I had ever seen and I was intrigued as to whether I’d be able to grow them in my own garden. This plant is particularly attractive to bees, butterflies and moths. I try to actively choose flowering plants based on their appeal to pollinators.
Having grown my echiums from seeds, I had to find a place for them. This plant prefers full sun (though I was told they will tolerate a partly shaded location), a sheltered position, free draining soil, and careful protection from frosts during winter. I could tick those boxes quite readily, although the only sheltered space in my garden did restrict full daylight somewhat. I decided to give it a go anyway, after all gardening is often about experimentation with plenty of trial and error thrown in.
Once my echiums were planted they grew prolifically across the summer, establishing well and enjoying the soil I had prepared and conditioned for them. Although they weren’t due to flower until the following year, they were nevertheless beautifully architectural and hugely impressive specimens. By the time I was ready to wrap them for the winter they were several feet tall. The foliage was huge, so wrapping them up was a careful and time-consuming exercise.
Come early spring, I was getting excited about unwrapping them. My wife urged caution (it was late March) and suggested I wait a little longer, but I felt that wasn’t necessary given how warm and sunny the weather was in 2020. Once I’d removed their winter coats I was delighted by how healthy all three of my echiums appeared to be. However my delight turned to dismay within two weeks. All three of the plants withered and died at a fast rate. We had a couple of cold nights with a mild frost but normally these plants will survive that. I still don’t know what went wrong and can only think that it must have been a little too cool to unveil them.
I’m hoping to make another attempt to grow these beautiful ‘cool exotics’. If you’ve grown these yourself, feel free to leave a comment and share your experiences.
