Re: Echiums

Longevity of various Echium species also depends on
how much maritime influence your garden gets.  The
most commonly planted Echium  candicans usually will
last for up to 5~6 years along the coast, but is often
shorter lived in hotter, more inland climates here in
northern California, where a cold winter may often
take them out prematurely, or too dry of a summer in
combination with high heat.

How well various Echium species will self sow is also
rather dependent on your soil type and amount/timing
of winter rains.  Here in the San Francisco area, E.
pininiana(sp?) has naturalized in areas with summer
fog drip and sandy/gritty soils.  E. wildprettii also
self sows in garden situations with similar gritty
soils, but I haven't seen this one do so in similar
non-irrigated situations to E. pininiana.  I've also
seen E. pininiana easily cross with E. wildprettii and
form a plant intermediate in size between the two, and
just as easy to grow along the coast.

Of the various display garden plants of several less
common species of Echium which Annie Hayes is growing
at Annie's Annuals in Richmond, Ca., I haven't seen
any of them self sowing in the display beds, except
for the occasional E. wildprettii and the annual E.
vulgare and E. plantagineum, which is a very showy
late winter into mid summer  bloomer, and will self
sow readily in irrigated/non-irrigated garden
situations where it has bare ground to germinate in. 
In fact, it is a great annual to naturalize in areas
of the garden that won't be watered in summer.  

I suspect that the biennial species self-sow best
nearer the coast where the cooler, moister conditions
favor them.  This winter I have been enjoying the
flowering on several Echiums, including E. boissieri,
E. simplex and E. aculeatum, all of which I got at
Annie's to try out. E. simplex is one of the taller
single spiked species, with white flowers.  E.
boissieri is also white flowered with  interesting
more delicate foliage and compact branching habit.  I
am not sure if Annie has a crop of E. gentianoides
this spring, but this was certainly one of my
favorites for showy large flowers, although the plant
does not seem as vigorous in habit as most of the
others she is growing.  I highly recommend combining
any of the Echiums with another winter/early spring
bloomer from South Africa, Lobostemom fruticosus,
which is spectacular in full bloom with its varied
pink/blue flowers.  There is a display plant of this
at Annie's Annuals that is about 4 foot across by 2.5
feet tall and in full bloom over about a 2 to 3 month
period, looking great right now.  


--- Catherine Ratner <catherineratner@earthlink.net>
wrote:

> Echium pininana (species spelling from "Wild Flowers
> of the Canary Islands"
> by David and Zoe Bramwell) is listed in that book as
> a short-lived perennial
> but is always a biennial for me.  It seeds readily
> but not too much, and so
> I just pull out the ones that aren't in the places I
> desire.  It certainly
> makes a "vertical statement" as it is only about two
> feet wide and ten feet
> tall.  The flowers are not as showy as in E.
> fastuosum, being more widely
> dispersed and a sort of washed out blue.
> 
> Cathy Ratner, Sunset zone 24, national zone 10.
> 
> 



		
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