Gone but not forgotten. The triennial Giant Echium I grew in my front garden five years ago died after flowering in its third year. It shed thousands of seeds which have been germinating in the vicinity. A handsome specimen bloomed in my neighbour's front garden this year. [see entry dated 17th. May]

 More are on the way. The one by my gate I should be able to tease out of the mound of loose soil it has rooted in and transfer to the adjacent border. The blue flowered Echium pininana is becoming quite common around London but these will be the red flowered Echium wilpretii which is rarely seen. 

 That is assuming they make it through the winter. The former has become increasingly frost tolerant as it naturalises but E. wildpretii is probably closer to its forebears on the Canary Islands where they both hail from.