On 30/09/2014 14:58, sacha wrote:
On 2014-09-30 09:57:21 +0000, Jeff Layman said:

Well, I can understand the Echiums, which are effectively monocarpic,
and won't flower until they've reached a certain size - whether it
takes 2 or 4 years. But E. c-g is an odd plant. I thought at first it
might be specific clones which flower early, and although that may be
true, its flowering seems very varied and unpredictable. My previous
plant lived in a 45 cm pot, and never flowered, even though it was 15
years old when it died.

My current plant, which is against a small south-facing wall, now has a
main trunk approaching 10 cm in diameter, and around a dozen branches.
About half of those are over 2 metres long and still growing, with no
signs of flower buds. They are a bit of a hazard when mowing the lawn,
as I always forget about the nasty backwards-facing thorns on the
underside of the leaves!

Monocarpic, yes but biennial, leaving lots of babies behind if you're
lucky.

I think they are biennial in habitat, but can take longer in colder
climates (although they must still be protected from a penetrating frost).

If I remember, I'll ask Ray to try a Ec-g outdoors next year to see how
it does. Ours are under glass and flower superbly, so I've no idea how
they would do outdoors.

I wonder if the reason E.,c-g flowers is because it's been kept in a pot
in a warm greenhouse over winter. I saw several largish plants in
flower at West Dean many years ago, but was told they were still in
large pots, which had been buried in the ground in late spring, and
would be returned to a greenhouse when flowering was over!

Coming back to my OP, I have just returned from the SHHG. There were
three Vitex agnus-castus in flower - two ordinary plants and one
pink-flowered cultivar. None had any fragrance (confirmed by one of the
gardeners there), even though in full flower. I can only conclude that
this is one of those (many) errors perpetuated by those who simply
repeat what they have read and never checked themselves.

It doesn't detract from the attractiveness of the plant, but must be
disappointing for anyone who has bought one for its supposed fragrance.

--

Jeff