Echium pininana 'Alba'

Echium pininana 'Alba', is the white-flowering form of the Giant Tree Echium. A truly magnificent plant with wide silvery-green leaves foliage and - in its second year - an enormous raceme, typically 3-5 metres high, covered with masses of white flowers that the bees go absolutely mad for.

It really doesn't like being transplanted and it will sulk for several days with the leaves going limp. It is important to keep it very well watered at this time and cut off any lower leaves that turn yellow to reduce transpiration loss. Choose a period of time when the days are cool and cloudy to transplant and do it towards the end of the day. As long as it is well watered it will recover. Once growing again it will quickly send out new leaves followed by its enormous flower spike. The flower colour on these are somewhat variable as they are obviously raised from seed and tend to vary from white to very pale blue.