My tall Echiums have survived this winter and last, inspite of being covered with snow from the beast from the east. It’s their 3rd year so I’m hoping for flowers this summer.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
You may be lucky Lyn - I have read on here before that they can take up to three years to flower - so if you can achieve that then give yourself a pat on the back. I do stake mine or tie them to a strong post as they have a tendency to lean at quite an angle if left to their own devices.
There are sheltered places in the u.k. (scilly isles too) where they can flower successfully. Once the flowers have finished I would suggest not hoeing the soil around them as they do reseed quite readily so keeping the cycle going.
They always take three years here to bloom, but some years I’ve lost the seedlings/young plants in the winter, strangely though, not last winter when they took the brunt of the weather, they’re in a very exposed position as is all my garden. Im really hopingnfor flowers this year as I need them to self seed. They are much stronger self seeded than if I sow them.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
I grew blue bedder one year, bees loved it, it was very pretty, but the packet said it flowered until autumn. Mine fizzled out in August. It was an annual, maybe I sowed and planted it too early.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
I had the same outcome Busy-Lizzie with my annuals. They finished too early in our garden too. They were beautiful to look at and the bees loved them too, but they died off quite dramatically whilst all plants around them carried on flowering for another month or two.
Are there two sorts of Blue Bedder because mine come up every year, not seedlings, the main plants? I’ve googled and half say annual half say perenials.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
There must be Lyn, as mine were very definitely annuals, I can't remember the exact name of the seeds - they were what I would call a mini echium. Yes, I would sow some more Allyblueeyes, it isn't too late to be sowing seeds.
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Im really hopingnfor flowers this year as I need them to self seed. They are much stronger self seeded than if I sow them.