Echium Pininana - anyone grown this?

[Wonderfulcheapfalafel]

I visited some gardens earlier in the summer and LOVED this plant. I can only seem to find seeeds for sale and it's a biennial so I can''t work out when/how to plant it.

Has anyone ever grown this? Is it hard? They're so massive, they look complicated! I think woul suit a mediteranean garden which is what I'm trying to create.

I'm in Norfolk with sandy soil, and garden gets lots of sun throughout the day.

I've been trying to find out how to grow Echiums too. It looks as though you have to grow it from seed. It is very attractive to bees. I would think children would like it, like with sunflowers.

yeah i think i'll just have to buy some seeds and give it a go. I often don't have much luck with seeds though. i don't have a lot of space for starting them off.

I've grown the little british version of echium and the bees to indeed love it!

You can definitely buy echium plants (not just seeds). They are popular in tropical/jungle gardens, so the nurseries that specialise in jungle plants often have them. Think Urban Jungle, Desert to Jungle etc. If you Google “echium jungle” you will find a number of options. You will pay more for more mature ones.

I’ve seen them online at Jungle in a box - I’ve not bought any yet, but bought other plants from them a few months ago and they were very healthy.

You may also like eremurus, they are similar tall spikes. They have a reputation for being hard to grow, but that hasn’t been my experience. The bulbs/roots are very weird looking but they soon shoot up. Sadly they don’t flower for long though.

Here's one in my garden. They are lovely, loads of little blue flowers and the bees adore them. However they usually take 3 years to flower (then die) and getting them through the winters can be difficult, even though I live on the South coast. People right near the sea in town seem to have more luck.
They are not keen on being pot raised, I've only had real success from ones that have grown outdoors from seed.

Thank you so much @Koulibiak and @Snowontheroof that's so helpful. @Snowontheroof your garden/house looks amazing! I didn't realise they needed 3 years to flower, hopefully worth the wait? It's quite mild here usually so I hope they'd survive the winter but I suppose won't know until I try. Did you provide any protection for yours?

Well, I have never had one get into flower in two years - but they are native of the Canaries so are used to much hotter conditions - so it's always taken 3 for me. Also, despite trying to protect them by wrapping in the winter, I've found that it makes them damp and they rot - so I just leave them and keep my fingers crossed. However I live 2 miles from the coast - in Swanage (down the road a couple of miles) the soil is much more sandy (we have clay) and I think the fact that it's a town where the houses retain the heat it keeps the frost away and that helps. I am jealous because I have loved them since first seeing them in the Channel Islands many years ago.

As for where we live - heh - we have a huge garden but it's mostly weeds and brambles except really close to the house as DH is a butterfly fan and the insects like weeds, brambles...

Also, as I said, the soil is clay. Frankly, dig a little way down and it looks like Red Leicester cheese and has the same consistancy. It's heart-breaking 😥

I live in the North West by the sea and they are everywhere, self seeding impressively well. I don't think they transplant well so seed is the best way. Though obviously try transplanting. I can't get them to grow as think my soil is too heavy even though a house up the road has a scutch of them.

Thanks everyone, I think I'll wait till next year but going to try a few seeds and also buy a mature plant i think, in springtime. Hopefully it can thenmke it's way through next winter! We have quite ligh sandy soil here so hopefully that's favourable. Hope to be back in 2-3 years witha photo!!!!