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04-02-2006, 08:25 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening

On Sat, 04 Feb 2006 13:19:56 +0000, Sacha
wrote:

On 4/2/06 13:03, in article ,
"Dave Poole" wrote:

On 4 Feb 2006 03:42:43 -0800, "La Puce" wrote:

So now what do I do with the seeds?

Echium piniana are biennial flowers. If I were you, I'd sow some now,
and again would sow more in late summer (in tray, lightly covered).
They will put only leaves on this year, but next year will bloom, make
seeds, and you can sow more.

In the UK Echium pininana is monocarpic (dies after flowering) and not
biennial. It may take 2 or even 3 summers to grow to flowering size
and only very rarely makes enough growth 2 seasons to satisfy the
criteria of being biennial. If sown now and provided the plants are
not killed by cold winter wet, flowers can be expected during May/June
2008 at the earliest.

I found mine seeded themselves around in Jersey but we have little luck with
them here, even in our comparatively mild climate. One flowered last year,
so I'm waiting to see if it produced any viable seedlings nearby. There
hasn't been the problem of wetness so much this year but of course, it has
been very cold. I am always terribly envious of the people of Tresco when
we go there and see the darn things growing wild!
In fact, thinking about it, I'm tempted to put some into 'interesting' pots
and see what happens if we just grow them that way.
snip

They grow wild in west Cornwall too. A few years ago I saw a 'copse'
of them, like triffids, on some uncultivated semi-moorland near St.
Ives. It looked as if someone had dumped some garden rubbish there,
including I suspect a few dead flower stems of EP, and it had
scattered its seeds around which then germinated freely!

--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net