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Helen Chesnut's Garden Notes: Readers politely point out error

In a column two weeks ago I identified a reader’s tall, imposing plant as a foxtail lily — Eremurus robustus (Giant Eremurus, Giant Desert Candle). I was incorrect.

In a column two weeks ago I identified a reader’s tall, imposing plant as a foxtail lily — Eremurus robustus (Giant Eremurus, Giant Desert Candle).

I was incorrect. The plant is Echium pininana, another tall plant with early summer flower spikes densely packed with flowers.

Eremurus robustus grows up to three metres, with flower spikes held on a length of bare stem above a robust clump of strap-shaped leaves. The pink flowers are narrowly cup-shaped. Echium pininana (Tower of Jewels) bears tapered spikes of funnel-shaped, lavender blue flowers, interspersed with narrow, pointed leaves, beginning lower down on the stalk.

Echium pininana (EEK-ium pin-in-AY-na) is a plant from the Canary Islands. Pininana means feather-like, that is having leaflets arranged on each side of a stalk.

Echium’s common name is viper’s bugloss. It was once thought to discourage serpents and/or act as a remedy for snakebite. The British companies Chiltern Seeds and Plant World Seeds both list Echium pininana.

I used to grow dwarf forms of Echium vulgare, and loved the plants for their charming blue, pink and white flowers. The ones I grew are like Chiltern’s listing of the 30-cm tall Echium vulgare ‘Dwarf Hybrids.’

On the day the column with my mistake appeared in the paper, emails began arriving early in the morning. They continued through much of the following day. Of course I was embarrassed by the mistake. At the same time, I was struck, and heartened, at the uniformly civil and collegial tone of all the messages. No rancour or righteous indignation. Just information given in a friendly but otherwise neutral manner.

Thanks to everyone who wrote. How uplifting it is, when so much uncivil, even nasty discourse abounds, to know there exist gentle souls, reaching out to assist rather than condemn. Here’s just a sampler.

Steve, from Salt Spring Island, wrote: “Looking at the foliage, I think the plant is actually an Echium. I’ve had it in my garden for years, as it is a voracious self-seeder.”

From Ruth: “Echiums are my passion. The bees love them. Some of the Echiums in my garden reach four metres or taller. Showstoppers!”

Kevin was familiar with the plants in the photo. “Hi there. The plants are Echium pininana. The photo pictures the ones I planted on the Gorge Waterway in Saanich. I get a lot of interest in them.”

From Denise: “The plant pictured is Echium pininana. I have an abundance of them in my garden. They are incredible.”

Clay soils revisited. The same column contained tips on amending clay soils to help make them more porous and workable. This is an issue that comes up regularly in my mail.

I noted that a clay-based soil does have the advantage of holding on efficiently to both moisture and nutrients, in contrast to light, sand-based soils that easily leach out nutrients and drain quickly of moisture.

Various sorts of organic matter, including compost, grass clippings with aged sawdust, chopped straw, and leaves help to make clay easier to work with. They can be used as summer mulch around plants, then dug under in the fall. Such materials, used to cover empty beds in the fall, can be dug under as soon as the ground is workable in the spring.

In yet another response to that column, Joe Harvey wrote with some of his own thoughts on and experiences with clay. In his Halifax garden, Joe improved the texture of the clay soil by composting leaves with the clay. But he sees clay soils as not always a problem. “I can recommend magnolias to anyone with a clay soil. … I grew magnificent magnolias from seed back in Halifax.”

“My second love is peonies, both deciduous and tree peonies. They do especially well in clay. … Hellebores do well anywhere here but particularly love clay. Then there is rhubarb. I was born in Yorkshire and I always call rhubarb my national fruit! It grows well in clay soils between Wakefield and Leeds.”

“So the answer to anyone with a ‘problem’ clay soil is: rhubarb, hellebores, peonies and magnolias.”

Joe is among a small group of adventuresome experts in Victoria who grow specialized plants including rare snowdrop varieties, rare Clivias and Trillium hybrids. He has bred a unique tree peony that is propagated and sold as a fundraiser for the Abkhazi Garden.