Echium, Pride of Madeira

I planted out a Pride of Madeira this year having nutured it through the winter and now it is huge at least 4 foot across but it has shown no sign of flowering, It's too big to dig up now anyone any ideas if it will go through the winter and flower next year???
Mrs Chopper

 

Mrs C - are we talking Echium candicans (also known as E. fastuosum)?

I am growing some of these. Some have flowered in the second year and some have not - but will clearly flower in the third year. If you can get yours through the winter it will certainly flower next year. 4 feet across is a good size.

Mine are in large pots and I overwinter them in a frost free summerhouse, and also had some inside the house. I don't think they are very hardy. But Pete has grown them, and may know more about their hardiness.

If it was in my garden, I would be tempted to dig it up and put it in a big pot and overwinter it under cover. Its difficult but can be done. Only today I repotted a couple of 6 foot Brugmansias.

 

I over-wintered some E.pininana 'snow tower' in the ground once (I had about 4 in a row), they reached about 3ft in height in their first year from seed, so I put some canes in the ground around them (all together), wrapped fleece around the outside of the canes several times and then filled it in with hay. I put more hay in the crown of the plant and more fleece over the top and then some plastic (only on the top) to keep as much rain out of the hay as possible. It looks unsightly and if there are others plants close by it may not be possible but it worked ok for me on that occasion :thumb:

They got through the winter fine, just with the odd crispy leave tip, but there was no exceesive damp and two flowered, the only thing to bare in mind is; that winter was an average British one, temperatures although cold, not that many below -5, the last two winters we've had though would be a challenge for protecting them outside with temperatures down to -18 on several occasions....

 

Humm, are they very deep rooted plants, I might try and dig it up later because I would love it to flower. I have taken lots of cuttings, earilier in the year it produced loads of stem shoots which knocked off easily so I figured this was the way to propagate them and they all rooted quickly! The trouble is, attractive as the foliage is, it would be a shame if I never managed to get it into it's flowering year:(

Mrs Chopper