Two Echiums are getting ready to flower in my neighbour's front garden in South London, They are sometimes called Giant Echium or Tree Echium with good reason. They appeared after a good deal of undergrowth was cleared a year or two back.

 I was delighted because I assumed they are the progeny of a spectacular species I grew in my front garden Echium wildptetii, sometimes called the Tower of Jewels. An apt description in honour of its thousands of red/deep pink flowers. 

 Echiums are triennial. Back in 2018 I was given a seedling of wildpretii by one of the gardeners at the South London Botanical Institute. Rarely grown in the UK it flowered magnificently in 2020 and became something of a local sensation coinciding with the first lockdown. Residents were restricted to strolling round the neighbourhood and this wildly pretty Echium was much admired.

 However I now think we may be looking at not one but two species. The Echium on the right has the slender pointed leaves I noted on E. wildpretii. The one on the left has the broader leaves I associate with the blue flowered E. pininana aka Giant Viper's Bugloss which has naturalised here and there around London.

 Time will tell! Indeed, in their native habitat of the Canary Islands the two species have a hybrid form known as 'Pink Fountain'. One way or another we're in for a treat...