The plants in your first pic do look similar to Echiums ... but very well grown if they’re first year plants .., this site shows some well grown ones ... presumably grown in more favourable conditions than in my Norfolk garden 😉 http://www.cooltropicalplants.com/Echium-pininana.html
Yes that looks quite similar to the CB plant, here a closer image.
Dove, that’s a very funny looking echium, I think it should have been in the ground or something, they should have leaves right down to the bottom.
@Astro. You have identified them correctly, picture 1 on the right, picture 2 on the left. Once you get them to flowering stage, let them self seed, they do far better than if you try to germinate in a tray pot, they don’t being transplanted so leave them where they self seed.
You may live in a better climate area than I do, so may over winter them. i had this one a few years ago, waited 3 years lost it in the winter, it had a trunk a big as my arm. Site won’t let me put photos on at the moment, I’ll try again tomorrow and take a photo of the hopefuls I’ve got at the moment.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
They grow well further down in Cornwall, This is the one I lost, never got to flowering stage. Somehow I’ve managed to keep them going, just, from the seeds I grew in 2014.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
@Lyn I'm pleased that the CB plants have been identified, thanks. I live in Durham, and the area I'm in is pretty windy. This summer I was nervous about my foxgloves going over, the delphiniums didn't stand a chance. I intend to put in better plant supports for next year.
That was a fine looking plant @Lyn, what a disappointment for you that it died - I would have been confident the plant was well on it's way to maturity. We do loose some if there is a prolonged period of snow or very cold nights, but always there are seeds in the soil waiting to germinate and replace those lost.
@Astro. It’s always worth a go but don’t be disappointed, they grow to enormous heights I have one that was 20’ tall, but the wind does play havoc with them, I cant see any way to stake them. same here with delphiniums but I put a support right around those.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
We do stake or tie our Echium Pininana plants, very strong stakes, the type we use for new trees too. Looks like you have found the necessary seed Astro.
Bit of an update on my echium growing. I made a bit of mess of the first few seeds sown after knocking pot over that's why one plant is larger.
I've noticed the leaves on the largest plant are rumpled and somewhat rounded
I'm thinking this isn't right, I realise that growing them in pots, indoors under grow lights isn't their ideal condition.
I'm challenged by watering too little and watering in a way that encourages fungus gnats back. Also leaving them in too small a pot to thrive ,and to the contrary putting them in bigger pots and running out of space 🤔
My hope is that I can get them into the greenhouse in March and then in the ground after the last frost. Then they grow fantastically 😄
Posts
This features a list at the bottom containing photos next to each plant and nothing they list looks the same from what I can see.
https://www.shootgardening.co.uk/article/the-morgan-stanley-garden-1
@Astro. You have identified them correctly, picture 1 on the right, picture 2 on the left.
Once you get them to flowering stage, let them self seed, they do far better than if you try to germinate in a tray pot, they don’t being transplanted so leave them where they self seed.
You may live in a better climate area than I do, so may over winter them.
i had this one a few years ago, waited 3 years lost it in the winter, it had a trunk a big as my arm.
Site won’t let me put photos on at the moment, I’ll try again tomorrow and take a photo of the hopefuls I’ve got at the moment.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
same here with delphiniums but I put a support right around those.
I made a bit of mess of the first few seeds sown after knocking pot over that's why one plant is larger.
I've noticed the leaves on the largest plant are rumpled and somewhat rounded
I'm thinking this isn't right, I realise that growing them in pots, indoors under grow lights isn't their ideal condition.
I'm challenged by watering too little and watering in a way that encourages fungus gnats back. Also leaving them in too small a pot to thrive ,and to the contrary putting them in bigger pots and running out of space 🤔
My hope is that I can get them into the greenhouse in March and then in the ground after the last frost. Then they grow fantastically 😄
Any thoughts or suggestions?