The firework display of giant Echiums is one of the best known and loved features of Ventnor Botanic Garden. They all come from the laurel forests on the Canary Isles and Madeira but look carefully at them and you will see that they are not all the same. The one most often seen in gardens is Echium pininana , originally from La Palma. It produces a single tall flowering stem in its second or third year bearing mauve flowers and then dies, seeding copiously. Others are perennial and produce woody, branched stems giving rise to a mound of foliage and tight spikes of bright blue flowers. Echium candicans from Madeira, where it is known as the Pride of Madeira, is one of those. Other species are also grown here and, unfortunately, they cross with one another freely producing a whole range of perplexing hybrids. One species which is very distinctive is the true blue Echium gentianoides from La Palma, which has large sky-blue flowers and smooth, grey-green leaves.
Categories
Archives
- October 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- August 2018
- July 2018
- May 2018
- March 2018
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- November 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- April 2014
- February 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- April 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011