I've never had success with radical pruning of Echiums. I also think they grow too rapidly in good soil - the best specimens I've seen were the ones out on the coastal bluffs north of San Francisco were they were just ignored and recieved no summer water, but temps were cool enough that they didn't fry.

I also found the hard way that without good drainage, the roots can drown in heavy rainfall and they will quickly die.

I've noticed that about the different colored Echiums, too, mainly where I've seen the bulk of them, over in the Bodega Bay area. From what I remember, the blue-flowered ones were smaller, whereas the larger ones were more purple in color, which might explain the seedling theory.

Brenda

Color is variable from seed, but they can be propagated from cuttings if you want a known color. Echium will grow quite large under irrigated garden conditions, and wants to get to be a 6 to 8 foot tall woody shrub if left to its own devices. Light pruning done several times a year, more in the way of tip pinching of live growth, can be used to make it more compact, rather than one severe pruning after it has bloomed. It tends not to regrow well if cut into old woody trunks.

Best to give this the space it prefers, rather than try to hack it to fit a too small location. Give it a leaner soil mix and avoid regular irrigation if you want to restrain its rate of growth.

My question is what to do with the flowers after they are done blooming. Do you trim them? Some of the branches seem to droop with the older blossoms. I have several huge plants that have loads of flowers and don't want them all to droop.

Yes, you can cut off the old flower spikes.

Brenda

Unless you want tons of seedlings growing all over you yard, cut off the old flower spikes.

Mine is a sport - a beautiful blue - in an unirrigated section of the garden, and is easily 10' wide. I found that if it was cut back hard, but not to the main stem, it would resprout and rebloom. One night dozens of hummingbird moths enveloped the flower spikes - special!

I have several young Pride of Madeira that popped up as seedlings. Will these survive transplanting? Is there a recommended time of year to move them?

I have a LOT of these on my south facing, frying hot, cut slope, crummy clay soil hillside where the only things that survive are plants too mean and stupid to die. I started off with 4 1 gallon plants. One died. The others set seed. A lot. The seedlings are now covering most of a 1/4 acre hill. I do nothing other than deadhead the flower spikes. They seem to be relatively short lived (5-10 years), they sprawl, they occasionally lose a whole branch that never comes back, they are a local stop for migrating butterflies, they are gorgeous (I started with 3 blue plants and the seedlings are breeding true). In short, my experience is to neglect them!

Re: color variation --
I saw one in a nearby town that had pink blooms. It was planted along a driveway in a light industrial area and whenever I would drive by I'd think that I should stop and ask to take some cuttings. Sadly I never did and I think the plant is gone now.

Slogal, I wonder if that pink one you saw was E. wildpretii, tower of jewels. They have pinkish blooms.

Brenda

There is a pink http://www.smgrowers.com/products/plants/plantdisplay.asp?plant_id=2955

I sow it in August last year...i would like to know when i could expect blooming

It depends upon how well they establish in the garden, but usually the non-biennial types seem to hit their stride in year three. They like to get their root system in place to produce those flowers. That isn't to say that some don't send up a few spikes at two, or wait until four or five, but I think that plants with good root systems, in the ground, are frequently ready around age three to begin throwing up spikes.

I planted an echium at least 5 years ago. It is enormous but it has never bloomed. It looks perfectly healthy and takes up most of the garden bed. What can I do to get it to bloom?