Echium amoenum Red Feathers

Echium amoenum 'Red Feathers' is a very beautiful viper's bugloss with crimson red flowers that grows in a small region including northern Iran, the Caucasus, and Russia, up to an altitude of 2,200 metres (7 feet). It is a very hardy but short-lived plant, biennial or perennial, which blooms for long weeks if one regularly removes faded flower spikes. Its spectacular flowering in the form of dense spikes emerges from a basal rosette of narrow and hairy, greyish-green leaves. It will find a place in embankments, rockeries, borders, and natural-inspired flower beds where it will self-seed. This robust plant tolerates poor and chalky soils, provided they are well-drained but requires full sun to flourish.

Echium amoenum is a plant with a taproot of the boraginaceae family originally from Western Asia. This viper's bugloss forms a dense and compact basal rosette of leaves 20 cm (8in) in diameter in the first year and blooms from the second year onwards. A short-lived perennial, it often disappears after producing seeds, but self-seeds spontaneously in light or rocky soil. The lanceolate and rough foliage is covered with stiff hairs that give it a greyish appearance and persists in winter. Flowering takes place from May-June to September-October depending on the climate, in the form of magnificent, striking 40 cm (16in) spikes. It is impossible not to notice them, even if surrounded by greenery or dried foliage because of the dark red buds coexisting with fully bloomed flowers of a crimson red alongside faded flowers of a softer antique pink. This plant is very resistant to cold in perfectly drained soil and tolerates summer drought.

Echium Red Feathers can be used in rockeries, borders, well-drained flower beds, and of course in natural dry gardens. It can be associated with Damask Nigellas, perennial flax, ammis, and shrubby sages in natural areas. Paired with stipa tenuissima, on a dry slope or rockery, it will create a superb contrast. This plant is remarkably rich in nectar and has the ability to continuously produce nectar, providing a precious food source for pollinators. Echium honey has sought-after qualities; a beautiful amber colour, a low capacity to crystallize and a sweet, floral scent.