Echium vulgare

<a href="https://en.promessedefleurs.eu/perennials/perennials-by-variety/echium-viper-s-buglosses.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Shrubby Echiums</strong></a>, sometimes nicknamed the 'Pride of Tenerife', have reason to be the pride of the Macaronesian islands <strong>of the Canaries and Madeira</strong>, which host several endemic species on each island of the archipelago. These Echiums are indeed <strong>spectacular plants for their colours and striking forms</strong> that leave a strong impression. You may have noticed while walking Brittany's coastal stretches in spring the <strong>impressive 3 m-tall spikes of Echium pininana</strong>, a species that dies after fruiting at the end of summer. It is the largest of the viper's buglosses, nicknamed Tower Jewels, and its natural habitat is on the island of La Palma, although it is fairly rare there and endangered. It is a huge <strong>biennial plant with very exotic appearance and character, very easy to grow in areas with only light frosts</strong> (−3 to −4°C). It likes heat, full sun, well-drained to arid soils, and may benefit from the shelter of a walled garden, unless grown by the sea. The species <strong>Echium candicans</strong> (syn. <strong>fastuosum</strong>) from Madeira in turn forms a large silvery shrub covered in numerous medium-sized spikes in spring, sky-blue or violet-blue and often very intense in colour. It can live 5–7 years if exposed only to short frosts down to −5°C. The perennial species <strong>Echium russicum</strong>, less common, is nevertheless hardier (to −10°C) and produces a clump of finer spikes in a handsome crimson-purple, rising from the base. The plant can live for 3–4 years. Annual or perennial Echiums such as <strong>Echium vulgare</strong> are much more cold-tolerant (to −15°C) and establish very easily on banks or in dry meadows, even on calcareous ground. Their clumps are much more modest in size, 30–90 cm tall, bearing loose spikes mingling blue and bright pink. The cultivar <a href="https://en.promessedefleurs.eu/annuals/flower-seeds/thompson-and-morgan-seeds/echium-vulgare-blue-bedder-seeds-vipers-bugloss.html">Blue Bedder</a>, obtained by the cross-breeding of Echium vulgare and Echium plantagineum, is particularly robust, floriferous and <strong>fits perfectly in dry, naturalistic gardens</strong> <strong>but also in a conservatory</strong>.