Chopping my Echium Candicans....?

Hiya, advice please!
We got a plant from Cornwall last year, from a place called 'Hardy Exotics', which sold supposedly exotic plants that could be kept alive in Britain, supposedly with a bit of care and TLC. Its full name on the label says "Echium Candicans svn E. Fastuosum", I have no idea what its common name is! At the place we bought it they had MASSIVE ones with huge flowering stalks about 20ft high!
Anyway, we seem to be doing something right as it's still alive, and getting pretty bushy. Can anyone advise if there's a good or bad time to prune it, at all? We need to trim it down a bit as we need to keep it inside over Winter and it's just too wide! I'm getting close to just attacking it with the scissors!
Thanks for any help you can give!

 

Hi Orby1, I have some of these outside in the garden, they spent last winter in the greenhouse. I will cover them in fleece when frost threatens and hope for the best.

I am not sure about cutting them down, but a little pruning to take out the outer long bits will probably not hurt. The common name for these is Pride of Madeira and I hope I get to see them flower next year.

They are not the very tall ones that you saw in Cornwall, that is a different variety called E. Pininana. The E. Fastuosum flower at about 4 - 5 ft but have plenty of them.

See here: http://www.cottage-gardens.net/showdetails.asp?id=162

 

Hi Blackthorn,
Thanks for the tip! Now I know the common name for my plant I've found a lot more info about it, so thanks very much for that. I think we're going to try planting it outside too, like you have with yours, although we may wait until Spring! We may struggle with it as it seems to need full sun, and we hardly have anywhere South facing, but we'll see what we can do.
Thanks again,
Orbs.x

 

You are very welcome Orby1. I think you are wise to wait until Spring if you have room for them in the GH as they are not really hardy.
Good luck :thmb:

 

I'll go along with that.
They are not hardy with me, in Kent.

I wouldn't cut back now as you will cut off wood that is likely to flower next spring.

They do get very large and spreading, a bit difficult without a large greenhouse, I find.

They need cool temps in winter so inside the house is not really ideal.

 

Just come across this, interesting as I've got a few seedlings being over wintered in a greenhouse belonging to a friend which I hope to plant out next Spring. Didn't realise they were that tropical!