Giant Tree Echium

If you are looking for a plant to make a statement in your garden, this is the one! With huge flower stems stretching up to an impressive 2m or more, this plant is not easily overlooked.

Echium pininana holds the prestigious RHS Award of Garden Merit, so you know it has earned its place in the garden.

The foliage forms dense rosettes on thick stems and has a Dr Seuss story book feel. The stems grow and grow with leaves all along. In summer, a growing tip rises up, covered in dense clusters of soft blue flowers.

Giant Tree Echium, or Tower of Jewels hails from the Canary Islands. The flowers last well and attract plenty of beneficial bees, birds and insects to your garden beds. The flowers should be left to set seed for future generations – the birds will also enjoy this seed visiting them often. These are biennial or short lived perennial plants that bloom every other year one plant can last a few seasons with consistent blooms if they are pruned effectively, can look straggly after a time so are best chopped back. Once the seed has dropped, the stems can be cut to the ground and the plant will die back. In its first year, seed produces a handsome rosette of silver green, hairy foliage, a worthy feature. In the second year, the blooms return. Once you have a few in situ you will be able to enjoy blooms every year.

Giant Tree Echium or Echium pininana should be planted in well drained soil. It isn’t too fussy, though if the soil is too loose the top heavy plants tend to topple. Water in well, Giant Tree Echiums are dry tolerant once established. It is fairly hardy to frost but is unlikely to set seed in cold climates.