Echium pininana - what next?

I have two of these which I raised last year. They have made it through the winter and are bushy little plants in 5" pots at the moment.

What do I do next? They are going to be big so should be planted outside soon but when I last grew echiums they died from the winter wet before they could reach flowering size.

Should I just risk it and hope they flower this year? Or should I pot them on and hope to keep them in the greenhouse next winter?

Also, does anyon else find E pin much easier to germinate than other forms of echium?

 

I had a large one die on me outside this year.

If yours were going to flower this year the plants would be growing a flower spike by now, anyway, flowering in a 5in pot is not likely to be very impressive.
You really need to get them into 12in pots minimum for flowering.
I have grown them in pots, it restricts the size but they do flower reasonably well in a couple of years or three.
How about planting one out and potting one on.

You could try one of those fleece bags over it in winter, and the potted one could be moved to a protected position as an insurance plant.

 

I don't think there is any chance of them flowering until about the third year at earliest. I put mine into quite a good sized pot and left them outside over the summers. Mine didn't get very tall, ie no more than three feet, until they were about to flower. Then they threw up a big spike - for me a total height of about 9 feet, but they can be a lot more.

They will overwinter frost free, but as you say they don't like the damp. Try spraying with a copper compound to reduce the chance of rot. I have overwintered some in both a frost free greenhouse and also inside my house.

Although its much smaller Echium russicum is quite fun, and more biennial. They don't mind the cold (hardy to about -20C) but again they don't like the damp. They will overwinter in a coldframe of a greenhouse without heat.

Also I am inclined to think that Echium Candicans is one of the nicest. Its not that tall or spectacular, but it overwinters reasonably well for. But more importantly it branches and so has many blooms over a long period, and its a true perennial.

 

I have just noticed an E candicans has germinated for me!

Pete, I'm not planning on it flowering in a 5" pot, it's just that 5" is the size it happens to be right now, I'm hoping for greater things, obviously. Better get the buckets out.

I'm assuming they flower early in the season, then?

Couldn't a potted one go into the ground for its third (and possibly final) year?

 

This was mine on the 9th May a couple of years ago. It was in a 50 litre pot.

Yes you can put them out in the garden, but because they flower so early I suspect that they have already done most of their growing, with the exception of the flower spike, by the previous autumn. Also you don't know when they are going to flower. I planted out one in its third year, then as it didn't flower I dug it up again and repotted it. However thats not as easy as it sounds, as they have big long tuberous roots, and when I dug it up all the soil fell away from the roots. However it survived and flowered the next year.

Congratulations on getting E. candicans to germinate. I find them a bit easier to overwinter. As they branch and have several growing/flowering points, even if one falls victim to rot the others can carry on.

 

I am surprised that, sown last spring? it has only got to 5" pot size. Mine are needing a pot 10" dia or so by the end of the first summer, and something massive!! by the end of the second.

I think best to plant out half at beginning of second season, with a view to leaving out for second winter and cross-fingers that its mild ... and planting out the potted ones in early Spring (3rd season) to hope that a) they flower and b) have not suffered from being in pots in the final stages.

Its touch and go though ...

 

Sorry Madahhlia, I miss understood about the 5 in pot.

As to flowering, they need to be established in their flowering position before the winter, so that means overwintering outside, as once they decide to flower, that is all they do, and the flower stem starts forming as soon as its warm enough for new growth.

If grown in a pot, you could try lots of tomato feed late summer and into autumn, I found it has a tendency to make them flower the following spring if they are big enough.

Regarding E candicans, as Peter says a shorter plant, but more tender IMO, also forms a large bush with quite a spread I found, so has a large footprint in the winter greenhouse.

 

That's probably because I'm a rubbish gardener, honest, I have plants that have hardly grown in years, it's the tender loving care I give them.

OK, so that's....one....outside and the other.....one..... inside!

 

Hahahaha ... I doubt that! Its just that once they get over the "I'm a pathetic seedling" (which Echium's do seem to do - they seem to look very unhealthy initially) they then seem to put on a sprint and benefit from potting on promptly.

 

They have each got a fringe of manky dead foliage but otherwise are fine.

 

2008 was the last time I managed to get a decent Echium out doors.
This is probably a hybrid.

 

Thats magnificent Pete