Echium Pininana flowering signs?

McRazz

Hi Folks,

This is my first post on the forum so a big 'hello' to everyone.

I'm currently growing about a dozen large Echium Pininana which are presently in my greenhouse, in whopping pots, riding out the last of the winter cold.

Having never managed to grow these successfully through to flowering i'm wondering if any learned people on this forum can advise me on what to look out for with regards to pre-flowering signs?

At present they are approx 4ft tall and have very thick, woody stems, with magnificaent whorls of crown leaf growth. In recent weeks they have shown signs of increased foliage and height growth and i am starting to see small leaflets emerge on some of the stems, near the crown, where the basal part of the fan leaves meet the stem.

Any advise on what to look for on a small scale would be great. I'm a fastidious obsessive when it comes to these tiny signs of changes in growing habit and it is these i am most interested to record in my observations!

(I work a 'farmers shift' in construction so am not home in daylight for most of the week, but will endeavour to get some pictures tomorrow morning and post on here!)

Thanks & best wishes to all, Matt.

Dovefromabove

Hello @m.razzell  aka Matt  and welcome to the forum ...

Back in  the autumn of 2018 I was given a seedling E. pin by a friend living in Cornwall ... I said that I didn't hold out much hope for it here in central Norfolk, and where the heck would I have space for it? 

However, we kept it in the cold frame that winter and potted it on in the spring ... it survived ... but the next winter (2019) it was too big for our cold frame so it spent the winter snuggled into a corner between a water butt and the house wall (east-facing). 

It survived ... didn't look great but was definitely still alive ... I bit the bullet and decided it'd have to be planted out in the veg patch ... the sunniest spot we have ... it remained there totally unprotected for the following winter (2020)... I fully expected it to keel over and pop its clogs  ... it wasn't the most handsome plant, decidedly bedraggled ... however in the spring of 2021 it sprung into life and put up a flower spike and when I say up I mean UP!!! 

Last summer it was heading for 12' in total, with a flower spike absolutely covered with bees  almost 24/7 ... it took up a lot of space, became intimately involved with the runner beans and squash plants, and was absolutely magnificent ... we're hoping it will have self-seeded in the veg patch ... our Cornish friend assures us that it will have done so ... that's if it's escaped the Under Gardener's assiduous weeding ... my OH isn't that good at recognising different plants popping up among the chickweed ... yet ... 

Afraid I didn't study it too closely ... but when it puts up a flower spike, it's hard to miss that 

McRazz

Dovefromabove said:

Hello @m.razzell  aka Matt  and welcome to the forum ...

Back in  the autumn of 2018 I was given a seedling E. pin by a friend living in Cornwall ... I said that I didn't hold out much hope for it here in central Norfolk, and where the heck would I have space for it? 

However, we kept it in the cold frame that winter and potted it on in the spring ... it survived ... but the next winter (2019) it was too big for our cold frame so it spent the winter snuggled into a corner between a water butt and the house wall (east-facing). 

It survived ... didn't look great but was definitely still alive ... I bit the bullet and decided it'd have to be planted out in the veg patch ... the sunniest spot we have ... it remained there totally unprotected for the following winter (2020)... I fully expected it to keel over and pop its clogs  ... it wasn't the most handsome plant, decidedly bedraggled ... however in the spring of 2021 it sprung into life and put up a flower spike and when I say up I mean UP!!! 

Last summer it was heading for 12' in total, with a flower spike absolutely covered with bees  almost 24/7 ... it took up a lot of space, became intimately involved with the runner beans and squash plants, and was absolutely magnificent ... we're hoping it will have self-seeded in the veg patch ... our Cornish friend assures us that it will have done so ... that's if it's escaped the Under Gardener's assiduous weeding ... my OH isn't that good at recognising different plants popping up among the chickweed ... yet ... 

Afraid I didn't study it too closely ... but when it puts up a flower spike, it's hard to miss that 

Hi Dovefromabove,

Thanks for your post.

I'm encouraged by your successes 'out east' in Norfolk and hope that a few self seeded echiums survive the gardening blitz and bring you further drama in the coming years! My OH can also be quite indescriminate when it comes to weeding...so too can our young collie pup which adds another dimension to my gardening routine!

Noted re the flower spike. I guess my main concern is that i'm looking to move these outside in the coming weeks but i may accelerate this if there are minute and tentative signs of flowering. The reason being is i want to plant them out with ample time for further root growth - Something which i fear may be lessened if the plant is concentrating all its energy on flowering.

I'm living in East Sussex but approx 150m asl on Crowborough hill, so its an interesting climate to say the least but having lived here for a couple of years i think i've sussed a few potential micro-climes within the garden that should work well for me and my EP's.

All eyes on the weather reports for the next few weeks i guess!

Matt.

Fran IOM

I have about four growing from an original which self seeded. The main one is about 5' now and apart from a few bedraggled leaves around the bottom of them they are still looking very healthy with no help from me having been out in all the winter weather. Not sure if mine will flower this year but as Dove says you will be amazed at the amount of bees covering the flowers. My original got uprooted in a gale force wind a few years ago and in spite of that the bees remained. 
This pic was taken some months ago now so obviously much bigger. 

McRazz

Fran IOM said:

I have about four growing from an original which self seeded. The main one is about 5' now and apart from a few bedraggled leaves around the bottom of them they are still looking very healthy with no help from me having been out in all the winter weather. Not sure if mine will flower this year but as Dove says you will be amazed at the amount of bees covering the flowers. My original got uprooted in a gale force wind a few years ago and in spite of that the bees remained. 
This pic was taken some months ago now so obviously much bigger. 

Hi Fran,

They're looking very healthy and make such great foliage plants regardless of the bonus flower spike.

I would be interested to see what flower colour yours end up noting the colour of the stem. The reason being; I am growing two colours, pink and blue (apparently anyway) The pinks have a red stem colour rather like yours whereas the blue's are most definitely greener. In fact i removed the labels when re-potting last year as they were so clearly distinguishable - Although this could be a strange coincidence, time will tell.

As mentioned, i'll get some pics tomorrow.

Matt.

Dovefromabove

I've seen huge ones flowering in the churchyard at Cromer, litterally right on the North Norfolk coast a few metres from the cliff top ... they are in the lee of the church (which is a big one) but the winds do swirl around there ... 

McRazz

Dovefromabove said:

I've seen huge ones flowering in the churchyard at Cromer, litterally right on the North Norfolk coast a few metres from the cliff top ... they are in the lee of the church (which is a big one) but the winds do swirl around there ... 

They must be under divine protection!

There is a church not too far from me, in Halstead, that has the most magnificent fig tree growing out the base of its wall. For sure the biggest and juciest figs i've had, and that includes trips abroad. The snake coiled around its trunk was most encouraging...

Wilderbeast

This is my echium up in Yorkshire at the beginning of November it wasn't up to top of the wall it's now 5ft high and growing unbelievably fast. It's with stood several hard frosts without any protection.

Wilderbeast

Oh I have no idea how to rotate the picture 🤣

Fran IOM

@Wilderbeast I do like the look of yours going straight up whereas mine is slightly curved. Maybe your main stem is the same but don't think it matters in your case.
I also find that removing the lower leaves as they become straggly doesn't affect the look of the plant in fact I feel it enhances it. 
@m.razzell I think we are all in the same position with our echiums so let's hope we see the pleasure of them flowering this year.

Wilderbeast

@Fran IOM it's got a strap tied to the pergola leg to hold it up straight, it does have 2 45° bends at the bottom