How Could Something as Exotic and Beautiful as Echium be Described as Something as Dull as a shrub? This One Can. No Alternative. It’s Woody and the Trunk and Branches Tend to Create the Most Wonderful Shapes Under it's Canopy of Floppy Glaucous Leaves and in Early Spring Starts Producing it's Crowd of Large Perpendicular Electric Bluish Purple Flower Spikes. Big, Bold, and Fast-Growing, this Ultimately Massive Shrub can Overwhelm a Small Urban Backyard at Maturity, but if You’ve got the Space and Appreciate Vegetative Drama, this is a Plant More than Worth Considering. Echium is also Attractive to Bees, Hummingbirds, and Butterflies. The pride of Madeira shrub is a popular landscaping plant in coastal regions and in the United States, in parts of southern California. Even in non-ideal conditions, the pride of Madeira is highly adaptable to a range of weather and like salty air, wind, bright sun, and rocky and low-nutrient soil. It does best in ample sunlight and humidity and doesn't need fertilizer to grow. Due to its rapid and adaptable growth, it's essential to watch for invasiveness, especially in coastal regions. Bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and a wide range of insects and songbirds are drawn to its nectar-rich flowers. Trimming the flower panicles before they seed helps to cut down on dispersion.
Zones 9-10
Pride of Madeira Germination:
1) Fill treys with a mix of 50% Compost, 50% Sand.
2) Use a heated propagator to keep the temperature at 68-70 degrees F.
3) At night, Drop the temperature to 35 degrees F. Temperature Fluctuation is Very Important or Germination will be slowed down tremendously.
4) Use a grow lamp to give 18 hours of light as they need light to germinate.
5) Place the Seeds in the treys, "Slightly" covering with Very light layer of sand. Do not bury as they need light to germinate.
6) Use a spray bottle to mist them. Keep "slightly moist", Not wet.
7) Germination will occur between 2-4 weeks for most seeds as long as instructions are followed, but some can take up to a month or two, so don't toss out any that do not come up quickly.