Plant ID

Guernsey Donkey2

This was growing in quite an exposed area, it looked very healthy and appears that it will flower in a few weeks, but what is it please?

nutcutlet

looks a bit echium to me

Hostafan1

looks a lot echium to me.

nutcutlet

 yes Hosta

Guernsey Donkey2

Echium? I only know the rough type that grow wild on the island - we have some in our garden.  The plants in the picture - and I'm sure you are correct are nothing like the ones in our garden which are quite rugged. This plant looks fairly tame and dainty by comparison. These seem to be quite well advanced - facing east with a fence behind them.

Lyn

Here's a photo of one of my echium last year, he's 20' tall, blew over then grew upwards. All self seeded, it grew out of a rough stoney bank, no feed, no soil hardly. The don't all ovewinter here, some have turned black in the frost, some still doing well for this year, they flower in a three year cycle, forgot what that's called now??

its right at the back with pink flowers. Behind the Foxgloves. I have never seen so many bees on a plant, enough for a hive.

Guernsey Donkey2

Wow Lyn that is a huge echium, they are magnificent aren't they.  Ours also grow on very poor soil, but you see them growing out of gutters, dry stone walls too, in fact anywhere where the seeds are blown, dropped by birds etc. Your echium looks really at home with the foxgloves - a good combination.  Ours are biennial, seed drops and produces small plant and the next year it flowers then dies off.  Yes, the bees love it too.

Lyn

Here, I sow them first year, plant out next late spring and they flower the year after that, so a long process, you just have to hope you don't get a cold winter, now they are here, I let them self seed, far better, stronger plants like that than trying to sow them. 

Hostafan1

Lyn, I think some of those I grew from your seed are sending up flower spikes as we speak. 

Guernsey Donkey2

That's good Hosta, you must post some pictures when they mature.  We haven't had any killed by frosts so far.

 A kind lady who used to live in our house when a child (1920 -30's) gave us half a dozen of the plants about 10 years ago and now we have 3 or 4 groups of about 10 in various parts of the garden, they certainly make a statement with their majestic height and vigorous growth.I knew I had a close up picture somewhere, but I couldn't find it last night. Yes, the bees love it, and also the ivy on the wall behind too.

Lyn

Hostafan1 says:

Lyn, I think some of those I grew from your seed are sending up flower spikes as we speak. 

See original post

 They should do, it's the third year. Hope they're in the ground. 

I really shoud stake mine GD, the wind has everything over here.

Quite a lot of the self sown seeds have survived, lost track of when then germinated though so don't know if they will flower this year on next.