Plant ID

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Willpar
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Re: Plant ID

Post by Willpar » Sat Jun 15, 2019 7:17 pm

Hi Placi, have been reading up about them. The lady said to put it straight into the ground, but also said the root is hard to get up. She just cuts it at ground level and leaves it for a year or so, then dig it up. But as I said I was reading up about it and found a question and answer forum. One person who grows them swears by a plant pot. The plants are rather fussy about ground, has to be well drained or it will die. So I will put it in a plant pot. Makes sense as the Canary Isles is a dry place. It will need a twenty inch pot for its final pot, with a well draining compost. The plant don't actually take up a lot of space as it grows upwards. But she had a different one in her garden that will flower next year and the rosette will get a yard wide. Once the plant flowers, that is it, will die after. But it sheds plenty of seeds and they will grow in the garden. There were several plantlets in the borders.

Her garden is lovely and is two thirds of an acre, don't know if they have a back garden though.

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Placido
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Re: Plant ID

Post by Placido » Sun Jun 16, 2019 8:52 am

What a pity the echium dies after flowering :(. I mean, you could make a friend out of that (I know I would :rolleyes:).
I reckon you're onto a good 'un here, Willpar - very interesting experiment. Future vids eagerly anticipated :nod:

Willpar
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Re: Plant ID

Post by Willpar » Mon Jun 17, 2019 9:19 am

Done some more reading about the pink fountain. They apparently put down a tap root, and that is why they are so hard to dig up. Putting it in a pot saves all that trouble. Bigger the pot, taller the flower, but in an 18-20" pot should reach at least 8 foot.

Ordered the seeds of the blue dwarf echium this morning.

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Placido
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Re: Plant ID

Post by Placido » Tue Jun 18, 2019 8:22 am

:clap: :banana: Ere we go ....... :D

Willpar
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Re: Plant ID

Post by Willpar » Fri Jun 28, 2019 9:13 am

Seeds of the dwarf blue are planted now. Have them in the bay window, nice and sunny and warm there. See how it goes.

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Placido
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Re: Plant ID

Post by Placido » Fri Jun 28, 2019 11:12 am

Heyhey !!!! Quite soon it'll be >>> :pictures: :clap:

Willpar
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Re: Plant ID

Post by Willpar » Fri Jun 28, 2019 12:55 pm

The seeds can take up to two weeks to germinate and don't like to be too wet. So I will give a spray now and again as suppose to watering. The large plant that the lady gave me is in a larger pot now with plenty of drainage in the bottom. Is doing very well.

funnily enough, I went through the village of Down Thomas this morning and someone has planted some quite large ones on a small plot, right by the road. will keep an eye on them. Could do with a watering though, as they looked quite laggy.

Willpar
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Re: Plant ID

Post by Willpar » Wed Jul 24, 2019 9:50 am

Not had any luck with my echium seeds germinating. Seen the lady that I gave seeds to last week and she has had only 4 germinated up till then. I did sow another packet outside last Saturday. Hope I get better luck. The first ones I planted in cells I have moved outside as it is warm. Hopefully I will get a few. Don't want loads, around 4 will be fine.

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Placido
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Re: Plant ID

Post by Placido » Wed Jul 24, 2019 5:04 pm

That's hard luck, Willpar :scratch:. Try, try, try .... and all that :shrug:

Willpar
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Re: Plant ID

Post by Willpar » Fri Aug 02, 2019 10:26 am

Seen the lady I gave the seeds to yesterday. She has had five come up, that's around twenty five percent success rate. She very kindly gave me two plants. I am starting to get ready a piece of ground for the young plants. So I will be putting three in the plot that I am getting ready. That is about the limit. Just need to get some compost to dig in. The stuff in bags for seeds and stuff. Give a bit of moisture retention and condition the soil.

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