Pretty wild- this is Echium wildpretii, sometimes called Tower of Jewels. It was given to me by one of the gardeners at the South London Botanical Institute when it was not much more than a seedling in a small pot. Unusually E. wildpretii is triennial. In year one it grows from a seedling into a small plant with a rosette of leaves. In year two it develops a stout stem about a metre tall with long slender leaves. In year three it throws up the tall spire encrusted with flowers, seeds prolifically then dies.  

 E. wildpretii hails from the Canary Islands. The blue flowered E. pininana aka Tree Echium from the same part of the world is starting to naturalise in warmer parts of the UK including London but the Tower of Jewels is rarely seen. It lives up to its name by bearing thousands of flowers which attract honeybees and bumblebees in great numbers.
 NB one caveat as to the plant ID. I have seen photographs of E. wildpretii on the Canary Islands with bright red flowers. There is also a form where it hybridises with E. pininana which is sometimes referred to as Pink Fountain. The flowers on the one I have are somewhere between pink and red so I can't be entirely sure whether this is a Tower or a Fountain!    

 I would love to see these enormous Echiums in their natural habitat. Picture if you will an arid volcanic landscape. It looks like nothing should really grow there but there are Echiums all around, standing tall.
  A bit different to South London I suppose but I'm very pleased to have this exotic alien in the front garden.