Echiums

Wylie - that's superb.

I have found E. fatuosum/candicans the easiest to overwinter, inside, here in the UK, and wildpretii the most difficult. Whilst a big pininana has to be the most dramatic, it dies after flowering - so again fatuosum/candicans seems to be the most practical as its perennial.

 

I live in the Azores, which is part of Macaronesia - the name for the island groups west of the Straits of Gibraltar - and where a lot of the echiums are endemic. I had tried the pininana, but it requires a lot of shelter. I currently have the wildpretii growing, and it has had no problems being outside this past winter. Echium fatuosum/candicans is native to Madeira, so I am also able to have Geranium maderense, which flowers at the same time.

 

Stunning picture Wylie - two of my favorite plants - but also two plants that are not easy in the UK. I have several Geranium maderense, all from seed sown 3 or 4 years ago and none of them have flowered yet. I am hoping that this is the year.

How does G. palmatum compare. I gather its not monocarpic - so really perhaps I should be growing that instead.

 

i've grown G maderiense, and it would be showing signs of flowering by now Peter, so my guess would be, maybe next year.
I've found G maderiense to be monocarpic in the UK, not keen on palmatum.

 

I found a post at:
frustratedgardener.com/2012/06/06/geranium-palmatum-versus-geranium-maderense/
that compares the two by a Londoner/Kent blogger that you might like.
The G. maderense takes me 3 years to bloom, and it is monocarpic. I have enough plants in every stage of growth, so there are masses of flowers every year. If I went with a perennial type, I would be quickly overrun. This fall, there will be 100's of seedlings from the seeds that are starting to fall now. On a sunny day, it sounds like a popcorn machine.

 

Pete - I have just had a close look at my G. maderense and there is no sign of any flower buds.

Wylie - Thanks for the link. I had a look and there does seem to be a big difference between the two as Pete says. In the past I thought they looked very similar. I was, perhaps, confused by the likes of one e-bay seller is selling G palmatum seeds with, what looks like, a picture of G.maderense.

 

Looking back, I just realised the lastime I grew G maderiense was 2006, was it that long ago?
Blimey.

 

Lovely Pete - I am really looking forward to seeing mine flower - but when?

 

Maybe next year? I grow them more for the foliage than the flowers, although the flowers do put on an amazing show:

 

Brilliant - you are teasing me Wylie.

However, I would agree the foliage is lovely and a good compensation for no flowers.

 

Some years ago I saw some planted in raised beds in central London, in the intrests of tidyness they appeared to be cutting all the dead foliage back to the main stem.
Needless to say the plants were very unstable and I doubt they ever got to flowering size.

I'm guess they were scrapped as not worth growing.

 

I must admit I find it difficult to know what to do with the old leaf stalks. They look untidy if left on and the plant flops if you remove them.

 

@Wylie would they perhaps not branch and flower again the following year if you dead headed them before they formed seed?
Just a thought, as I have heard they are a short lived perrenial.
Not easy to try here growing in pots.

 

I remove just the dead leaf, but let the stalk remain, if they are growing well, the new leaves should cover up most of the old supporting leaf stalks.

 

Mine are on a slope that cannot be used for my main interest (daylilies). Growing so close to each other, the bottom parts never become a big issue. But the old leaves form a thick mat so nothing grows under them. The roots are very long. They also start setting seed before the last flowers open, but I like the sun shining on the fuzzy parts of the flower heads.