Echium pininana

tower of jewels, giant viper's bugloss

Eventual height & spread

Echium pininana

tower of jewels, giant viper's bugloss

  • 2 litre pot
  • £34.99
  • available to order from late spring
Delivery options
  • Standard £5.99
  • Position: full sun
  • Soil: moderately fertile, well-drained soil
  • Rate of growth: average
  • Flowering period: July to September
  • Hardiness: frost hardy (needs protection in winter)

    A dramatic addition to the garden, echium produces exceptionally tall flower spikes packed with purple-blue flowers, and towers above everything else in the border in mid to late summer. The rough, dark green, lance-shaped leaves studded along its length give it an architectural silhouette in the dying sunlight, and it is particularly suitable for an exotic planting scheme. It is a biennial or short-lived perennial and likes to be kept dry. Not one for the timid gardener.

  • Garden care: In frost-prone areas protect plants with frost fleece. These spectacular plants will usually die after they have finished flowering.

  • Skin irritant