Echium pinana - how to grow?
 

I recently saw the towering spires of this plant in Devon and want to
grow some here in Cheltenham. Chiltern offer seed but a search of the
web gives me no clue about when to sow them or other care details.

Anyone how to grow them?

Thanks!

Steve Harris - Cheltenham - Real address steve AT netservs DOT com
A useful bit of gardening software at http://www.netservs.com/garden/

The message
from (Steve Harris) contains these words:

I recently saw the towering spires of this plant in Devon and want to
grow some here in Cheltenham. Chiltern offer seed but a search of the
web gives me no clue about when to sow them or other care details.

Anyone how to grow them?

It will be too cold and wet for them there in winter, they will only
survive into the second year (when the flower spike appears) in the
mildest areas of the country.

Janet.

Hello. I have grown Pinninata for a couple of years now.
This year in the early Summer my plant was about 9 feet tall and a towering spire of flowers.
This is what I did--- you sow the seeds in spring to flower and die the next year-- Monacarpic Bienniel.
You may still have time so hurry up.
My two plants for next year One blue one white are about 3ft tall now.They are best grown in pots.
Give them big pots and plenty of root room.Plenty of water they droop very quickly, they tell you when they need watering.
My flowering plant finished up in a 18" pot. Feed often and try to give a little frost protection by putting in the shelter of the house.
Nothing special but you have to get an EARLY start.
You cannot successfully grow and flower all in I year. Like so many things with agrdening PLAN AHEAD. Seeds are very expensive too but germination is good. Hope this helps.

On 12/8/05 6:44, in article ,
"Dave Poole" wrote:

Steve Harris contains these words:

I recently saw the towering spires of this plant in Devon and want to
grow some here in Cheltenham. Chiltern offer seed but a search of the
web gives me no clue about when to sow them or other care details.
Anyone how to grow them?

Steve,

Due to recent, very mild winters Echium pininana has been successfully
flowered by a dedicated few as far north as Manchester. However,
Janet is perfectly right by inferring that it is generally too tender
away from urban 'heat-sinks' such as central London or the mild
climate regions of the south and west coasts.
snip

I should warn you that Echium pininana becomes massive with a leaf
spread well in excess of 1.5m. at maturity and prior to flowering,
they will be about 1.5 - 1.8m. high. Naturally very large containers
and plenty of space under glass is required. If wintered under cover,
the plants need to be kept just frost free. Out of doors, you will
need to protect them by covering with layers of fine netting or fleece
during cold weather. Its a bit of a fad, but (dare I say it?) the
excitement derived from finally seeing those flower spikes rocket
skywards is almost certainly worth the effort and time expended.

I think it's a wonderful plant and I love the shrubby ones, too. But we can
have trouble getting it to flower here, possibly because we're closer to
Dartmoor than the sea. However, ours have flowered this year, so we're
hopeful of seeds and seedlings, perhaps. I am always extremely envious of
those we see growing on Tresco - all sorts, growing wild, all over the
island!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

i love these flowers, so impressive :) bought a one yr old plant from a nursery year before last and kept it in a pot as i knew we were moving. anyway when we moved I planted against a west facing wall and i thought it would b fine cos i live near the city centre we don't get very severe frosts.

anyway unfortunately when we were away at my wife's parents for xmas it snowed and i thought the snow which had settled on the crown had killed it. Suprisingly come spring while the crown was dead the plant sent up neumerous flower spikes from below the crown, and by the end of the summer it looked like a curly wig of those lovely small purple flowers. Was quite a feature, however unfortunately it then died over the next winter and the film which had pictures of the "wig" corrupted and so i have no record of it

On Thu, 11 Aug 2005 09:15 +0100 (BST), (Steve
Harris) wrote:

I recently saw the towering spires of this plant in Devon and want to
grow some here in Cheltenham. Chiltern offer seed but a search of the
web gives me no clue about when to sow them or other care details.

Anyone how to grow them?


Steve, Echium pininana is a biennial, like foxgloves. You really need
to sow them fairly early, protect young plants over winter, and they
they should shoot up and flower the next year. You should have some
plants to overwinter if you sow a few soon.
(Says she who has never yet succeeded in overwintering one!)

Pam in Bristol

On Fri, 12 Aug 2005 13:16:14 +0100, Dave Poole
wrote:

I'm quite pleased to see that the more vividly coloured Echium
wildpretii (intense blue, red or purple) has started to pop up here
and there on the sea front here.

The last time I was in Torquay, the only thing that popped up was a
flasher in a shelter on the lawns above Babbacombe!

Pam in Bristol

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message
from (Steve Harris) contains these words:

I recently saw the towering spires of this plant in Devon and want to
grow some here in Cheltenham. Chiltern offer seed but a search of the
web gives me no clue about when to sow them or other care details.

Anyone how to grow them?

It will be too cold and wet for them there in winter, they will only
survive into the second year (when the flower spike appears) in the
mildest areas of the country.

It was pretty spectacular at Ness earlier this summer and my colleague at
work has it growing and flowering in Holywell - abt 500ft asl in a garden on
the north side of a wooded hill. I'm awaiting a donation of seeds ;-)
--
Rod

My real address is rodtheweedygardeneratmyweedyisp
Just remove the weedy bits
and transplant the appropriate symbol at.
..

The message
from Dave Poole contains these words:

Sacha wrote:

I think it's a wonderful plant and I love the shrubby ones, too. But
we can
have trouble getting it to flower here, possibly because we're closer to
Dartmoor than the sea.

Anywhere inland causes problems with these Canary Island and Madeira
plants even in Devon and Cornwall.

However, ours have flowered this year, so we're
hopeful of seeds and seedlings, perhaps.

Start looking in a few weeks time, they should be up by September and
will make some growth well before winter. Quite often, they find
their own niche and thrive - in direct contrast to the ones you
carefully plant and tend. It sows itself freely and has recently
popped up here in the village. Within a few years there will be
avenues of blue spires aroundabouts.

I am always extremely envious of
those we see growing on Tresco - all sorts, growing wild, all over the
island!

I'm quite pleased to see that the more vividly coloured Echium
wildpretii (intense blue, red or purple) has started to pop up here
and there on the sea front here. Although not quite so tall as
pininana, it is far more showy. Invariably there will be hybrids
between the two species so almost any colour is likely to appear over
the next few years.

Wel,, that gives me hope. E pininana is a weed in the walled garden
at Brodick Castle, just across the bay, and grows in several sheltered
spots elsehwre on the island. In my garden, itransplanted seedlings did
well in their first year but didn't survive winter, probably because it
was too damp and cold where I planted them. However, I have some other ,
shorter, nameless kind grown from Madeira seed which survived their
first winter fine, in a sunnier better drained spot. No signs of flowers
yet though.

Janet.

On 13/8/05 0:00, in article , "Janet
Baraclough" wrote:

The message
from Dave Poole contains these words:
snip
I'm quite pleased to see that the more vividly coloured Echium
wildpretii (intense blue, red or purple) has started to pop up here
and there on the sea front here. Although not quite so tall as
pininana, it is far more showy. Invariably there will be hybrids
between the two species so almost any colour is likely to appear over
the next few years.

Wel,, that gives me hope. E pininana is a weed in the walled garden
at Brodick Castle, just across the bay, and grows in several sheltered
spots elsehwre on the island. In my garden, itransplanted seedlings did
well in their first year but didn't survive winter, probably because it
was too damp and cold where I planted them. However, I have some other ,
shorter, nameless kind grown from Madeira seed which survived their
first winter fine, in a sunnier better drained spot. No signs of flowers
yet though.


If it stays hot and sunny, you should be lucky. I do think that cold, wet
soil is a killer so sunnier and better drained might well do the trick!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

In article , (Dave Poole)
wrote:

Out of doors, you will
need to protect them by covering with layers of fine netting or fleece
during cold weather. Its a bit of a fad, but (dare I say it?) the
excitement derived from finally seeing those flower spikes rocket
skywards is almost certainly worth the effort and time expended.

Thanks, Dave! I have a sheltered, sunny, free draining site. Also, my neighbours enjoyed my huge
Jersey Kale so much, it's about time I organised another treat :-)

Steve Harris - Cheltenham - Real address steve AT netservs DOT com
A useful bit of gardening software at http://www.netservs.com/garden/

I have a number of Echium Pink Fountain and Wildpretti which I grew from seed earlier this year - if anyone is interested in a trade/purchase let me know (UK only)