June 6, 2018…..I can’t say if these echiums are “Towers of Jewels” or “echium Pininana,” but I’m quite sure they came from the seeds of my original single plant purchased from my favorite nursery in October of 2013. They called it a “Tower of Jewels.” “Your bees will love it.” They were right.
A couple of years ago, Johann, one of our young neighbors, wanted to start a garden. My wife and I grow many bee-loving flowers and donated a couple of little echium starts to him for as you may know, once an echium decides to bloom, it will attract the pollinators and start many little seedlings.
On one of our daily walks last month, Johann flags us down, “You know those plants you gave me? They grew real tall.” He pointed them out and I could see the tops of them from the backyard. I haven’t made any videos for a long while and asked if I could shoot one. Then I remembered that he was a musician…maybe he could provide some music. This is the collaboration along with some scenes from around the neighborhood.
Adventures in Natural Beekeeping 
Not keeping bees but having lots of plants on my allotment which attract them (mostly of the bumble variety) . . . I’m hoping they remember to pollinate my peas and beans and tomatoes as well as the decorative flowers.
I’ve seen tall echiums before but hadn’t realised until reading your post that bees like them.
I’m happily surprised that echium grow in England. I think your weather gets a bit colder. I sometimes have to throw a tarp over when the forecast calls for freezing temps. It’s great to hear from you.
Loving Johanns performance, well stitched together with your vid 🙂
And good to know you are still keeping an eye on the bees 🙂
Yes, we are keeping an eye on the bees…but not on our own. A long story there. We decided we wanted to support the native bees especially, which means, of course, we can keep growing flowers. Lots of flowers!!! Our local bees love us. Our local nurseries love us, and I just hope our well can keep up with the demand for all our water needs. 😬