On 20/4/07 20:23, in article ,
"Chris Hogg" wrote:

On Wed, 18 Apr 2007 22:38:05 +0100, Sacha
wrote:



It is absolutely maddening to us that they don't do well here. We think
it's more to do with wet than cold, though. If you saw them in Tresco,
you'd salivate! E. piniana and E. fastuosum are everywhere but so are
others which we think must be the result of some very promiscuous crosses.
I have a photo taken a couple of days ago of some deep violet blue Echiums
beside a yellow Cytisus and it's a knock out. All colours of Echiums can be
seen from pinky mauve to indigo - the island vibrates with their colours.


There are lots of E. pininana around here in west Cornwall, although
none in flower yet. For several years I've struggled to grow E.
fastuosum, but usually a frost takes the flower buds while they're
developing. The plants themselves survive, and do produce a second
flush of flower, but they're not as impressive as the original
'candles' would have been. I have one this year that hasn't been
frosted and is in flower now. See http://i12.tinypic.com/30ndlq1.jpg

You lucky person and what a good colour that is.

Eventually they get too large and too leggy to be attractive, and they
don't like being hard pruned, so I usually take cuttings and start
again. The one pictured above is one such, although for some reason
the 'candles' are not as fulsome as those of the parent.

We had one fastuosum by the front gate, which I took out some eighteen
months ago. A seedling appeared in its place, which I thought was also
a fastuosum, but it soon became apparent that it wasn't. It was much
faster growing and had longer and less glaucous leaves, so I assumed
it was a seed of E. pininana that had come from somewhere. But then it
started branching, which pininana seldom does IME, and I've concluded
it's a hybrid between the two. As you say, Sacha, they do hybridise
very easily, and there are always some pininanas in a garden not far
away. It's just coming into flower ATM. An impressive plant, although
I would have liked a darker blue. It'll be pruned back when it's
finished flowering, and there are plenty of new shoots for cuttings
coming on the central stem in case it doesn't like being pruned. I'm
hoping it'll be just that bit hardier than E. fastuosum. Picture at
http://i18.tinypic.com/495vbet.jpg .

Another interesting shrubby growth and I agree with you about the colour. I
wonder if it would be informative to treat them with whatever one puts onto
hydrangeas, for example.
We had one outside our bedroom at Tresco which was different to most we've
seen, though there were other examples here and there. This one wasn't in
bloom but it branched from the base, had apparently single flowers up long
stems, quite widely spaced and ended in a plume of flowers at the top - we
think! Ray took a couple of cuttings from that one (he does have
permission to do that!) so we'll see what transpires.
On the hill from the hotel towards New Grimsby, if you know the area, there
was a tall one on a trunk which then branched into the candelabra shape
after two or three feet. The variations are enormous but never dull, IMO.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)