Echium russicum

Plant type

annual / biennial

size

H: 2'-3'
W: 15"-18"

planting zones

7a-10b

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Echium russicum plant details

Echium russicum is a broadleaf semi-evergreen annual / biennial with green foliage. In summer red flowers emerge. Features fuzzy texture. Attracts bees, butterflies and hummingbirds making it an excellent addition to pollinator gardens. Grows well with sun and regular - low water. Drought tolerant once established. Prefers to be dry in summer. Does well in lean and well-drained soil.

CHARACTERISTICS OF Echium russicum

Plant type: annual / biennial
Plant family: boraginaceae
Foliage: semi-evergreen green
Mature size: 15 IN - 18 IN - wide, 2 FT - 3 FT - tall
Flowers: red blooms in summer
Uses: clumping, rare, rosette-forming, self-sowing

GROWING CONDITIONS for Echium russicum

USDA Zones: 7a - 10b
Sun exposure: sun
Watering frequency: regular - low
Resistant to: deer
Soil needs: lean and well-drained

Nursery contributed plant descriptions

The rich sanguine hue of Echium's bold columns is tempered slightly by a dusting of tiny whitish hairs and below their abundant display, lance-shaped leaves decorate the flowering stems. By nature a biennial, when planted in well drained soils this eastern European native is proving reliably perennial. Show it off amidst other meadow plants such as Deschampsia, Stipa gigantea and Salvia 'Swan Lake'.

By: Digging Dog Nursery

Often listed as a biennial, it has been perennial for me for quite a few years. First year from seed it makes a big rosette of rough hairy leaves and then in subsequent years shoots up spikes of raspberry flowers up to three feet or so. Not nearly as dramatic as some of the tender echium, but still striking, lovely, and different. Makes a great cut flower. Very tough and drought tolerant, but doesn't demand good drainage, as it was as happy as can be in the heavy wet clay of my old garden. Zone 5.

By: Arrowhead Alpines

This extremely hardy European echium is smaller than most of its kin, to only 2 ft tall with tall spikes of saturated dark red flowers. To 2 ft tall in clumps to 18" wide. Though considered biennial, these are perennial in well-drained soil that is very lean. Also seeds itself in undisturbed gravel mulch. Sun is best. Tolerant of drought but intolerant of transplanting. Frost hardy and perennial in USDA zone 7.

By: Cistus Nursery

A rare, ruby flowered, Echium native to Russia that’s remarkably cold hardy (some say it’s even hardy to zone 2)! Throngs of striking, upright spikes, bearing dark red flowers emerge from a basal rosette of hairy leaves mid-Summer, attracting bees from far & wide. In nature, it is reported to be biennial, but in most garden situations it’s been found to be perennial. Likes well-drained soil & full sun. To 2.5-3' tall & 15” wide.