Plant of the Week
Echium candicans
Each week, OGV sub-committee member, Gayle Parkes presents the 'Plant of the Week'. She also posts to OGV's Instagram - make sure you check back weekly for her latest post. This week Gayle brings us Echium candicans with its arresting architectural form and large blue flowering spires.
Echium candicans, commonly called “Pride of Madeira”, is a species of flowering plant in the family Boraginaceae, native to the island of Madeira. It is a large herbaceous perennial shrub, growing to 1.5 - 2.5 metres.
E. candicans is a stunning architectural plant! The large cone like spires of blue purple spikes and delicate pink stamens appear from early spring through to summer providing the perfect highlight above the silvery foliage.
Each candle-like spike is made up of hundreds of small flowers full of nectar that is irresistible to bees and butterflies. Their striking blooms can also come in an array of colours from purple, pink to white.
These versatile robust plants are not only strikingly beautiful, but tough and drought tolerant. Now who doesn’t need a head turner like that in their garden! All ornamental echiums like full sun to part shade and well-drained soil. They will tolerate long periods without water. They dislike having wet feet and can suffer from root rot in soils that are poorly drained or if they are over watered.
It’s a good idea to remove spent flowers to promote further blooms. These long spikes make for a very dramatic effect in a large vase, mixed in with any colour of foliage really, but I love to team them with dark plum hued foliage, setting off the gorgeous purple flower heads. Fabulous! Lightly pruning your bushes after flowering will keep your plant from becoming leggy, but remember, only cut into the soft wood. They tend to last only 3-5 years before looking a bit raggedy, but these very low maintenance plants will usually drop a few seeds in this timeframe and a new one will replace the older version. Fortunately they grow easily from cuttings too.
An asset to any garden, echiums are in the same family as borage and comfrey. The large, softly hairy grey-green leaves look good all year round.
E. candicans are stand out plants for the border making for a very interesting display. They are an attractive plant to place along pathways, hard to plant areas and in cottage gardens as well, ideal for adding that wow factor to your garden. They are also perfect for your coastal location too.
These bee magnets are happy grown in a large tub creating a magnificent highlight in your garden. We all need more bees for pollination of vegetable and fruit trees, and beneficial insects to keep all the spring pests under control. So many of us have that sunny dry spot to fill and E. candicans is certainly worth thinking about, a very rewarding contender.
Heralding the beginning of spring, you will start to notice these big showy spikes standing proud in the gardens around your neighbourhood right now. I’m lucky enough to have quite a few to admire over the fences on my daily walks…. The sun is shining, it’s a beautiful day, hmmm… I can hear the buzzing already.
All images courtesy of Kate Catterall