Echium pininana

Echium pininana, the Tree Echium is native to the Canary Islands and the largest growing of its genus. It is a magnificent plant with a wide rosette of large silvery-green leaves, bristly to the touch, that grows rapidly and provides a stunning focal-point to the exotic garden. In its second year, it erupts into life and produces an enormous flower spike, typically 3-5 metres high although sometimes even taller. Each flower spike has countless very pretty blue flowers that are irresistible to bees and has them buzzing around madly all day.

Typically a monocarpic biennial, it does sometimes live into a third year before flowering, scattering its thousands of seeds that remain viable for many years. So once you have got it to flower you will have a ready supply of future plants. In the UK it is best described as half-hardy and it is one of those plants that you find yourself either earnestly hoping for a mild winter or wishing that the freezing point of water wasn't just a little lower. To be perfectly frank, it is not the easiest of plants to overwinter, for although it survives well in a favoured maritime position and will take a degree or two or frost and recover well enough, long extended periods of sub-zero temperatures tend to be somewhat terminal.

It can be overwintered in a frost-free place indoors for transplanting in early Spring. It doesn't particularly like being moved and it is best to choose a cloudy day and water it in well.