This diary of back garden botany also makes mention of the front garden from time to time. It's actually the sunniest border to grow in but it's not large. Red Valerian (Centranthus ruber) pokes through the railings.
I have high hopes for this specimen. This is one of the giant Echiums that hail from the Canary Islands. I got it as a small plant from the South London Botanical Institute last year and I can't remember if it's the red flowered E. wildpretii that's endemic to Tenerife or E. pininana from La Palma which has both blue and pink flowered forms. They can grow up to three or four metres high covered in thousands of small flowers. In any case it has put on a thick stem and a healthy rosette of leaves since being planted so the signs are good. Some books refer to it as a biennial but others note that it's triennial i.e. flowers in the third year. We'll see.
The aptly named Tree Echium aka Giant Viper's Bugloss (Echium pininana) with blue flowers seems to be naturalising in South London and warmer parts of the country so perhaps E. wildpretii will do the same. I posted an entry on 7th. March which shows one of these triffids growing at the SLBI.
This border is not only sunny but free draining and therefore dry- conditions which suit the various plants that thrive here. Having said that beyond the Echium you will see the silvery leaves of a Lavendula made more silvery by the fact that it's dying. Lavenders are somewhat short lived anyway but it's curious that this one which I grew on from a cutting only a few years has suddenly faded.
Some plants were knocked back by last year's drought and I think it's fair to say we are in drought now given the meager amount of rain there has been during spring. I wouldn't expect that to be a factor in the Lavender's ill health, being a plant of Mediterranean climes.
Case in point Purple Toadflax (Linaria purpurea) is from the same region and I have never seen it looking more vigorous. It self-seeds and naturalises all over London and does fine in our climate but this year I notice everywhere it's like a different plant- thicker stemmed, greener, much taller. Clearly the hotter, drier conditions of the past twelve months have suited it.
It's just coming into bloom now and the spikes of flowers are a treat for the eyes and the bees:
