JandyLand's Mystery Plant

JandyLand, member

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I Live in Northern California, had this 'shrub' in my front yard~in a wine barrell, & it died. I tossed it into a corner of the backyard & paid no further attention to it. ( In fact I throw dog 'piles' over there often ) and the next year it took off all by it's self ~ no water pruning, etc. I love it & get asked often what kind if tree, or shrub it is!. thanking~all who read this.// It has grown to be about 15-20 feet tall with a base of around 15"and 3 more are growing out from the sides of the largest one.Little purple flowers appear all over it.

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What is this?

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Unknown annual, or tender perennial

Comments (10)

ednad writes: I'm pretty sure this is Echium pininana. I bought one several years ago at a local nursery, and it put up a nice little palm tree-like plant the first year (it's biennial), then the second year it added about a stalk about seven feet high with hundreds (thousands?) of small blue flowers, a spectacular sight. Since it's biennial, I wasn't surprised when the plant died that winter, but next year I was delighted to see several dozen small plants, obviously seedlings of my echium. After weeding out the surplus, I had a nice forest of palm-like echium plants the first year, but alas, I live in the Pacific Northwest where we can usually expect at least one hard frost over winter, and they all died. But here is what's interesting: the following year, the same thing happened, obviously from seeds two years old in the ground. Then, same thing the following winter. And the next year, and the next...Obviously, this plant wants to reproduce!! and I'm surprised it hasn't covered the entire state of California by now. But it would seem we are safe here with our usually reliable winter kills. It's a beautiful plant though, and I'm hoping my current crop of volunteers will survive and send up another flower stalk to keep the cycle going. Posted: 12:23 pm on December 1st

JandLand writes: THANK YOU~~ THANK YOU .. ~ M LEE G ~ .. YOU ARE RIGHT, IT IS AN ECHIUM PLANT, BUT I LIVE 'FAR' FROM THE CANARY ISLANDS OR SANTA CRUZ... I AM JUST GOING TO WATCH IT & SEE WHAT IT DOES THIS NEXT SPRING/SUMMER... I GET SOOO MANY COMPLIMENT'S ON IT AND IT IS WAY BACK IN A CORNER IN MY BACKYARD !!, THANKS AGAIN FOR RESPONDING. JANDY Posted: 4:19 pm on November 30th

MuffettG writes: With I don't know how many gardens in my yard, I always see something else I want and can't grow here as I am in the North East, Brrrrrr!!! Zone 4-5 perennial. Posted: 11:20 am on October 19th

MLeeG writes: Former writer may have meant the type of Echium from the Canary Islands, you see lots of it in Santa Cruz area due to the (Yes!) Mediterranean climate. But,due to the height I see, there is another plant it may be too, a South African Plant that blooms only every few years (like maybe 10 years) which I've seen at UCSC Arboretum. So look at the blooms -if multiple blue flowers with a slight irridescense, it's Echium. Best place to find out definitively is U.C.Santa Cruz Arboretum. There are some fabulous volunteers there who may know or ask for Dan, the Director. He's discovered new plants from faraway places in the world. And there are some very unusual plants there! It's the mecca to see S.African, Australian, New Zealand and more recently S.American plants.
And Calif.natives too! I used to be a volunteer there and it's a great group of knowledgeable people! Posted: 12:56 pm on September 22nd

MLeeG writes: Former writer may have meant the type of Echium from the Canary Islands, you see lots of it in Santa Cruz area due to the (Yes!) Mediterranean climate. But,due to the height I see, there is another plant it may be too, a South African Plant that blooms only every few years (like maybe 10 years) which I've seen at UCSC Arboretum. So look at the blooms -if multiple blue flowers with a slight irridescense, it's Echium. Best place to find out definitively is U.C.Santa Cruz Arboretum. There are some fabulous volunteers there who may know or ask for Dan, the Director. He's discovered new plants from faraway places in the world. And there are some very unusual plants there! It's the mecca to see S.African, Australian, New Zealand and more recently S.American plants.
And Calif.natives too! I used to be a volunteer there and it's a great group of knowledgeable people! Posted: 12:54 pm on September 22nd

MLeeG writes: Former writer may have meant the type of Echium from the Canary Islands, you see lots of it in Santa Cruz area due to the (Yes!) Mediterranean climate. But,due to the height I see, there is another plant it may be too, a South African Plant that blooms only every few years (like maybe 10 years) which I've seen at UCSC Arboretum. So look at the blooms -if multiple blue flowers with a slight irridescense, it's Echium. Best place to find out definitively is U.C.Santa Cruz Arboretum. There are some fabulous volunteers there who may know or ask for Dan, the Director. He's discovered new plants from faraway places in the world. And there are some very unusual plants there! It's the mecca to see S.African, Australian, New Zealand and more recently S.American plants.
And Calif.natives too! I used to be a volunteer there and it's a great group of knowledgeable people! Posted: 12:51 pm on September 22nd

MLeeG writes: Former writer may have meant the type of Echium from the Canary Islands, you see lots of it in Santa Cruz area due to the (Yes!) Mediterranean climate. But,due to the height I see, there is another plant it may be too, a South African Plant that blooms only every few years (like maybe 10 years) which I've seen at UCSC Arboretum. So look at the blooms -if multiple blue flowers with a slight irridescense, it's Echium. Best place to find out definitively is U.C.Santa Cruz Arboretum. There are some fabulous volunteers there who may know or ask for Dan, the Director. He's discovered new plants from faraway places in the world. And there are some very unusual plants there! It's the mecca to see S.African, Australian, New Zealand and more recently S.American plants.
And Calif.natives too! I used to be a volunteer there and it's a great group of knowledgeable people! Posted: 12:50 pm on September 22nd

MLeeG writes: Former writer may have meant the type of Echium from the Canary Islands, you see lots of it in Santa Cruz area due to the (Yes!) Mediterranean climate. But there is another plant it may be too, a South African Plant that blooms only every few years (like maybe 10 years) So look at the blooms -if multiple blue flowers with a slight irridescense, it's Echium. Best place to find out definitively is U.C.Santa Cruz Arboretum. There are some fabulous volunteers there who may know or ask for Dan, the Director. He's discovered new plants from faraway places in the world. And there are some very unusual plants there! It's the mecca to see S.African, Australian, New Zealand and more recently S.American plants.
And Calif.natives too! I used to be a volunteer there and it's a great group of knowledgeable people! Posted: 12:47 pm on September 22nd

MLeeG writes: Former writer may have meant the type of Echium from the Canary Islands, you see lots of it in Santa Cruz area due to the (Yes!) Mediterranean climate. But there is another plant it may be too, a South African Plant that blooms only every few years (like maybe 10 years) So look at the blooms -if multiple blue flowers with a slight irridescense, it's Echium. Best place to find out definitively is U.C.Santa Cruz Arboretum. There are some fabulous volunteers there who may know or ask for Dan, the Director. He's discovered new plants from faraway places in the world. And there are some very unusual plants there! It's the mecca to see S.African, Australian, New Zealand and more recently S.American plants.
And Calif.natives too! I used to be a volunteer there and it's a great group of knowledgeable people! Posted: 12:46 pm on September 22nd

janadick writes: I believe this is called an Ephriam plant. Many folks in the Santa Cruz, CA area create natural fences or large clumps with it. I have seen these odd shaped cones covered with tiny red flowers, as well as with the blue/purple flowers. They come back year after year and need practically no watering to survivie. I would love to have a clump where I am now living, but I get up to 4 feet of snow each year, so have not even tried to start any of them. Hope this helps? Posted: 6:03 pm on September 21st

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