Echium vulgare Blue Bedder Seeds - Vipers Bugloss

Echium 'Blue Bedder' is a small annual or biennial sun-loving plant, adapted to dry and poor soils. All summer long it displays spectacular spikes, densely covered with pink buds that open to reveal tiny, delicate, intense blue flowers, aging to purple. It forms dense clumps of dark green, thorny foliage and is a magnet to bees and other foraging insects. It is perfect for dry slopes, rock gardens, borders and naturalistic flower beds. This hardy plant thrives in full sun, in well-drained soil.

Echium 'Blue Bedder' or Viper’s Bugloss is a hybrid variety selected from Echium vulgare and Echium plantagineum, two species native to the hot, dry regions of Europe. It belongs to the borage family (Boraginaceae) and forms a dense, compact clump measuring 30cm in all directions. The dark green foliage is comprised of stems and leaves that are entirely covered with tiny, stiff, sharp spines that must be handled with care as they can cause skin irritation. The 10-15cm leaves are grouped in a basal rosette. From summer to autumn, tall, eye-catching flower spikes appear, covered simultaneously in pink buds, vibrant blue blooms and aging purple blooms. Flowers are followed by seeds that self-sow easily in light, dry soil.

Echium 'Blue Bedder' can be used in rock gardens, borders and in the foreground of flower beds in well-drained soil. In naturalistic gardens it combines well with love-in-a-mist, perennial flax, sainfoin, alfalfa, annual cornflowers, Phacelia and Earthnut peas. It is suitable for growing in pots that are overwintered indoors. Viper's Bugloss has the ability to continuously produce nectar, making it a valuable food source for foraging, honey-producing insects. Bees that have fed on Echium flowers produce excellent, amber-coloured honey that is slow to crystallize and has a sweet, floral aroma.