Echium

Family. Boraginaceae.

Origin: Canary Islands, Madeira Island. 

Description. The genus Echium contains about 60 species, including annual, biennial and perennial plants. The leaves are green or silvery, long and narrow. In first-year seedlings, the leaves are collected in a basal rosette, which resembles a lush grassy hummock. The leaf blades are pubescent. The peduncles are tall - up to 100 cm or more. The flowers are small, in shades of blue, purple, lavender, burgundy, white or pink, very densely dot the peduncles. Echium is very attractive in itself, but during the flowering period it becomes an unusually chic bush.

Height : About 1 m, grows relatively quickly.

Growing

Temperature conditions

The bruise appreciates moderately warm conditions at a temperature of about 16 - 18° C. The plant does not like extreme heat. In the winter months, the temperature should not fall below 5° C. 

Lighting

Echium needs very bright light all year round. It will appreciate a few hours of direct sun a day, avoiding midday sun in the summer. Ideally, the bush should receive bright light for twelve hours a day.

Care

After the buds have faded, the flower stalks are cut off at the base.

Substrate

It is grown in fairly light, moderately moist, well-drained soil based on peat and leaf humus. 

Feeding

Feed weekly with water-soluble fertilizers, only during the period of active growth.

Purpose

A very large species that looks great even without flowers.

Flowering time

Spring. 

Air humidity

The bruise can be kept in fairly dry air, but if the central heating is on, the humidity should be increased. Place the pot on a tray with wet pebbles. Do not spray - if drops of water fall on the leaves and flowers, stains will remain. Good air circulation around the plant can prevent stem rot. 

Soil moisture

Adult specimens are drought-resistant. Young seedlings are watered abundantly and regularly. In autumn and winter, when the air temperature is low, the frequency of watering is reduced.

Transplantation

If necessary, plants are replanted in the spring. 

Reproduction

The seeds are sown in spring, germination occurs in 1 - 1.5 months. Bushes often bloom only at the age of 2 years. Seedlings are kept at a moderately warm temperature of up to 20° C - too high a temperature prevents germination.

Pests and diseases

Excess nutrients cause abundant growth of green mass at the expense of flowering.

When grown in open ground, the plant may be attacked by caterpillars. 

Varieties:

Echium wildpretii

A giant flowering plant that forms a herbaceous basal leaf rosette in the first year of life, consisting of many silvery-blue, narrowly linear leaves. In the second year of life - in late spring or early summer, echium throws out a vertical, thick peduncle 1 - 3 m high, dotted from base to top with numerous bell-shaped flowers of purple, red or pink shades. 

Echium candicans

This variety also impresses with its size - during flowering the plant reaches a height of 2.5 m. The leaves are green or silvery-green, narrowly lanceolate, entire, collected in a basal rosette during the first year. Strong, leafy, flower stems carry a cylindrical inflorescence in the upper part, consisting of small bluish, pink or purple flowers with red stamens. The plant develops quickly.

Echium plantagineum, Echium lycopsis

The most modest and compact variety, but with charming, bright flowers. The plant is a herbaceous, compact annual plant from 20 to 60 cm high. Young plants form a basal leaf rosette consisting of round, soft, green leaves on long petioles. During the flowering period, vertical, rigid flower stems appear with bright, purple flowers that open sequentially - from the base of the peduncle to its top. The diameter of the flowers reaches 2 - 3 cm. Interestingly, unopened buds are painted in a bright pink color and contrast perfectly with the blossomed flowers.