<em>Echium</em>, viper's bugloss: sow, plant and care for

Description and botany

Genus Echium, commonly called viper’s bugloss, belongs to family Boraginaceae like comfrey or borage. It includes plants with very different appearances and comprises around sixty species. It consists of annuals, biennials, perennials, herbaceous or shrubby forms, all covered in tuberculate bristles and stiff hairs that can sometimes irritate skin.

In biennials such as pininana or vulgare, the plant, aged two or three years, produces at the heart of a rosette of narrow silvery-green leaves one or several panicles of more or less dense flowers, with small leaves in similar grey tones, the bracts. This flowering signals death of the plant, which generally self-seeds abundantly in light soil.

The villous and thorny leaves are alternate, unlike those of sage, and have smooth margins. They form a basal rosette 30–50 cm in diameter that stretches upwards in Echium pininana and branches in Echium fastuosum, then forming thick, villous, cylindrical stems of soft wood. Roots form a deep taproot that makes transplanting somewhat delicate.

Among herbaceous viper’s buglosses, Echium vulgare is a European biennial species, hardy to −15 °C, fairly common in France, found along roadsides, in meadows, steppes and rocky areas on dry soil, between June and September. Basal leaves are ovate or lanceolate, 10–15 cm long and petiolate, while upper leaves are narrow with a single pronounced vein and lamina attached directly to the stem.

Echium vulgare – botanical illustration

Common viper’s bugloss can form slender bluish spikes up to 1 m tall. Echium plantagineum, more Mediterranean, is found on sandy sites as far north as Vendée. It is distinguished by heart-shaped basal leaves, softly villous, and slightly larger flowers up to 3 cm in diameter (2 cm in E. vulgare).

Flowering in Echium is generally in spring for shrubby species, while it extends through summer for herbaceous species such as E. vulgare and E. plantagineum. Inflorescences are in the form of oblong panicles composed of flared bell-shaped flowers 10–20 mm long, most often pink as buds, turning a vibrant blue when corolla opens, then purple when faded. Calyx is 5-lobed and asymmetrical corolla forms a funnel or a bell with 5 lobes, villous on the outside. Stamens, often bright pink and protruding from corolla, number five and make flowers sparkle. Pistil, also white and prominent, ends in two points. Flowering in Echium attracts a multitude of pollinating insects — butterflies, bees and bumblebees — which find a bounty for many months. One hectare of viper’s bugloss could yield 400 kg of a delicious honey with a sweet floral scent, a lovely amber colour and very slow crystallisation.

Dry fruits 2–3 mm long consist of four small rough achenes.

Name Echium comes from Latin echis or Greek ekhion meaning “viper”, referring to seeds shaped like a viper’s head but also to the pistil protruding from corolla resembling a serpent’s forked tongue. Trunks of shrubby viper’s buglosses evoke scaled body of a snake. Vernacular name viper’s bugloss has nothing to do with beliefs that plant attracts vipers or heals their bites. Dried flowers are nevertheless used as a medicinal plant, notably for depurative, diuretic and pectoral virtues. Seeds of Echium plantagineum contain interesting concentrations of omega-3 and stearidonic acid with anti-inflammatory properties.

Echium vulgare and Echium pininana

Main varieties of Echium

Shrubby varieties

Herbaceous varieties

Echium pininana Seeds - Tower of Jewels

Giant biennial variety forming a spectacular shrub with silvery leaves, bearing its large bluish conical spike over 1.50 m above ground. Plant in light soil, sheltered from frost, on a coastal bank or in a pot.

• Flowering time August, September
• Height at maturity 3 m

See the product sheet

Echium candicans

Viper's bugloss native to Madeira, short-lived, exotic in habit and appearance, very distinctive but frost-tender. In 2–3 years it forms a shrubby clump 1.50 m high by 2 m wide, clad in villous grey-green foliage, from which splendid blue spikes emerge. Not very hardy, it enjoys warmth, full sun, drained to arid soils and seaside exposure.

• Flowering time April to July
• Height at maturity 1,50 m

See the product sheet

Echium russicum

Viper's bugloss native to eastern Europe, very ornamental, producing long slender deep-red spikes composed of small old-rose and claret-coloured flowers mixed with white bristles. Sometimes grown as a biennial, this plant is perennial in drained soil and in winters that are not too cold (-10°C).

• Flowering time July to September
• Height at maturity 80 cm

See the product sheet

Echium vulgare Blue Bedder Seeds - Vipers Bugloss

Viper's bugloss with compact habit, annual or biennial, very melliferous, ideal for dry gardens in full sun. Produces numerous intense-blue spikes, notable for their finesse and vibrancy, emerging from pink buds and fading to purple. This robust plant tolerates poor, calcareous, drained soils.

• Flowering time August to November
• Height at maturity 30 cm

See the product sheet

Echium vulgare

Wild biennial species with very long melliferous flowering, suited to dry sites, fields, fallow land, waysides or rock gardens. Used as an infusion to soothe coughs.

• Flowering time May to September
• Height at maturity 90 cm

See the product sheet

Planting

Where to plant Echium?

Viper’s-buglosses prefer warm, sunny spots in rather dry, poor, sandy, rocky, even calcareous soil, not too acidic and above all very well drained. However, species such as fastuosum and russicum are more luxuriant and floriferous in fresh, rich soil even if this shortens their life. Under no circumstances will they tolerate more than one season in heavy, compact, wet soil.

Be aware of very low frost tolerance of Macaronesian species such as Echium fastuosum and pininana, which begin to suffer at 0°C but can survive brief frosts down to about -5°C in perfectly drained soil that is dry in winter. You can grow them in most regions directly in a large pot, because of their low tolerance to transplanting. Echium russicum tolerates down to -10°C in perfectly drained soil and common viper’s-bugloss down to -15°C.

When to plant?

Plant them rather in September–October in warm climate; otherwise prefer early spring north of the Loire and in mountains.

How to plant?

In most regions, grow large, frost-sensitive species in a large pot, because of their considerable development in a very bright place such as a conservatory or a frost-free greenhouse.

• Add a 10 cm layer of gravel or clay balls to bottom of container.
• Make a mix of potting compost, sand and loam.
• In open ground, dig a deep planting hole, avoiding smoothing sides.
• Add sand or compost if necessary to lighten soil and a dose of horn meal if soil very poor.
• Soak rootball in a bucket of water to thoroughly moisten it.
• In heavy soil, opt for planting on a raised bed or within a rockery.
• Place plant in planting hole without burying collar.
• Replace soil and firm lightly.
• Water.

Echium at Jardin des Capucins (29)

→ Read also : Growing Echium in a pot.

Care

• No need to water Echium in open ground during summer, even in dry climate. In pots, water once or twice a week during growth and more frequently in summer.
• During winter, overwinter young plant in a frost-free, very bright location and water very sparingly.

Note, in biennial species such as Echium pininana, young plant forms only a compact rosette of foliage during first year after sowing, and it persists through winter. Flowering occurs the following year provided no severe frost below -5°C has destroyed young plant.

• Collect seeds from biennial species for new sowings or leave to nature.

Echiums are not very susceptible to pests but watch out for slugs, which are fond of young shoots.

In a greenhouse, whiteflies and mites (red spider mites) can infest foliage. It is then advisable to move young plant to a well-ventilated, sunny spot during the warmer months.

Propagation: propagation by cuttings, sowing

Propagation usually involves sowing annual, biennial and perennial species. Propagation by cuttings of perennials such as fastuosum and russicum is also possible at any time of year.

Propagation by cuttings

Carry out in August with semi-woody cuttings or at any other season.

1. Prepare a deep pot by filling it with potting compost mixed with sand.
2. Take semi-woody shoot tips 10 cm long that have not borne flowers.
3. Remove leaves located near base of cutting.
4. Insert these into compost to two-thirds of their length, avoiding contact between cuttings.
5. Firm compost gently around each cutting to remove air pockets and ensure good contact between compost and cutting.
6. In autumn, separate rooted cuttings and plant them in buckets, then keep under cold frame until spring.

Sowing

Spontaneous sowings are fairly common in light soil and mild climate. Otherwise, carry out from late May to late July:

• Sow Vipérine seeds 3 mm deep in special sowing compost.
• Germination takes 7 to 14 days at 18–20 °C.
• Mist regularly to keep substrate moist until emergence.
• When handleable, pot young plants into 7.5 cm pots and overwinter in an unheated greenhouse, conservatory or on a well-lit windowsill at about 7 °C.
• Plant out in open ground the following spring, spacing 1 m between plants, in a very sunny site in well-drained, even stony and arid soil.
• Do not overwater this plant; it thrives in dry conditions.

→ Learn more about sowing Echium pininana in our tutorial sheet !

Uses and associations

Echium russicum, vulgare, plantagineum and Blue Bedder are meadow plants that will find their place on banks, rockeries, borders and very sunny naturalistic beds, paired with poppies, flax, ammis, sainfoin, alfalfa, annual cornflowers, phacelia and tuberous pea, and Ebenus cretica with downy pink spikes…

An idea for an exotic atmosphere in a mild climate : Echium fastuosum, Cordyline australis, Agapanthus, Geranium maderense and Osteospermum

Madeira viper’s-bugloss (fastuosum) or Canary viper’s-bugloss (pininana) are, themselves, excellent plants with an imposing graphic presence for mild Mediterranean or Atlantic coastal gardens as they tolerate sea spray perfectly. They can be paired on a rocky slope or in a container with exotic plants such as Euryops (yellow daisies), Beschoneria, Agapanthus, Euphorbia mellifera, Melianthus major, large shrubby or perennial sages such as Salvia leucantha, canariensis, guaranatica, involucrata Bethelii, Aloe arborescens, cistus…