 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Funny how Pride of Madeira, also known as Echiums - part of the Boriginaceae family - is often considered a common, ordinary, roadside bush. True it does tolerate poor soil, drought, and neglect. Given a chance it may spread like a weed. Pride of Madeira reseeds freely and so it's easy to get seedlings if you know someone with mature plants. If you're someone who appreciates the plant for what it has to offer — especially when it's in bloom — once established it requires little water and actually prefers dry conditions, which makes it suitable for conscientious SLO coast communities that conserve water. If you plan to plant some, you should know mature specimens of this shrub can grow well over six feet tall and eight feet wide. To have some control, pruning can keep the plant from getting lanky. Deadhead the flowers off your Pride of Madeira during summer and prune back hard in autumn to maintain its shape. When Pride of Madeira is exploding with various sized cones of cobalt blue to pinkish lavender flowers it is one of nature's finest displays of pleasing colors. When you look closely and adjust the angle from which you view the flowers, slowly bob back and forth — you see the iridescent changing colors. It's a pure and sensational visual pleasure — something to awe about as the plants buzz with butterflies, birds, and bees that seem to congregate on or inside this shrub during spring. It's quite mesmerizing to gaze at the intense colors and watch insects and the many kinds of birds that seem to find the plant inviting and hospitable. Winged wildlife feeds on vibrant traffic stopping heads as large as Cal Trans road cones. Bigger at the base and tapered to a point at the tip these cone like flower spikes shoot up and out from the plant like celebratory fireworks. Go ahead and take time to really check out these flowers, they're something to see — a party for your eyes. Photo "Monarch Butterflies and Pride of Madiers" by Gayle Oksen |
