Echiums burn?
KeenOnGreen
Posts: 1,756
in Plants
was deadheading in the garden yesterday And got a little skin burn from something. Everything in the vicinity was pretty ordinary (cornflowers, scabious, lychnis coronaria) with one exception. I have been growing an Echium Candicans from seed. It is quite large now and I think this may be the culprit. Do I need to wear gloves when handling this. I'd hate to lose it as I think we'll get the first flowers next year.
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More scratch/tear than burn if it's like other echiums.
Wearing gloves is down to you and how much trouble it's causing you
In the sticks near Peterborough
It's a proper little burn not scratch shaped at all. I'll give it a wide berth and just use gloves when we move it later in the summer. I collected it as a seed in the wild in Madeira and i'm chuffed that its flourishing. I've had irritation from other plants loads of times and not batted an eyelid but this is still hot and burning 24 hours later.
I got something that looked like a burn when I demolished a bamboo grove. I never did work out what had caused it.
Nice to get echiums going. Only the native Viper's Bugloss has ever really thrived here. Dove gave me some seed and it germinated, grew and flowered, but at about 6" tall, the bonsai version
In the sticks near Peterborough
We have echiums and yes they do scratch/burn - I would wear gloves or long sleeves if I was working on this plant. However I think they are worth it for the insect/bird attraction.