Viper's bugloss in the garden: identify, plant and price

Viper's bugloss (Echium vulgare) is a biennial plant with blue flowers. The first year brings only a rosette of rough, hairy leaves. From the second year a stem of 0.3 to 1 metre follows, flowering from May to September. The plant needs sun and dry soil where rain drains away quickly.

Viper's bugloss at a glance

Leaf

March to October

Flower

May to September

Fruit

no noticeable fruit

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

How do you recognise viper's bugloss?

At first there is nothing but a rosette, a circle of leaves pressed flat to the ground. These oblong leaves can grow to just over 20 centimetres long. At the base each one narrows into a stalk. Bristly hairs make the leaves feel rough and prickly, yet the plant has no true thorns or prickles.

Next, a straight stem shoots up. That stem is bristly as well, with long hairs sitting on tiny bumps. Higher up, the leaves turn narrower and lose their stalk.

At the top the stem carries a long, dense spike packed with flowers. In bud the flowers are pinkish red. Once open, they change through purple to bright blue. Each flower is up to 2 centimetres in size, with a lopsided mouth. The stamens, the thin threads with the pollen, reach far out of the flower.

Where does viper's bugloss grow best?

Plant viper's bugloss in full sun, meaning more than six hours of direct sunlight per day at midsummer. The soil should be dry and low in humus. Sand, lime and even some rubble or crushed stone suit it well. In the wild viper's bugloss grows on road verges, in the dunes and along railway lines. The plant reached the Netherlands before 1500 and has grown wild here ever since.

Do not choose these spots for viper's bugloss:

• In the shade of a tree, shed or hedge. Viper's bugloss cannot grow in a shady place.
• A wet corner on heavy clay. The roots need soil where rain drains away quickly.

By January, all that is left of a plant that has flowered is bare, dead stems. Meanwhile this year's young plants spend the winter as flat rosettes on the ground.

JuneJanuaryThe same border in June and in January. This is a generated image, not a photo.

A small pot holds a slim young plant, but a plant in flower takes up more room. In the app you place viper's bugloss on a drawing of your own plot, where the neighbouring houses appear at true scale. The app draws the plant at a grown plant's width, not at pot size.

Planting and caring for viper's bugloss

Start from seed or from a young plant in a small pot. Nurseries advise 6 to 7 plants per square metre. On planting day that looks sparse, because a plant in flower grows up to half a metre wide.

Fertiliser is not needed: wild viper's bugloss grows on soil with little humus. An established plant also rarely needs extra water.

There is no need to prune. Once flowering is over, you do choose what to do with the stems.

Many birds breed from March through July, and some species into August. If you cut in that period, first check for a nest close by.

What can go wrong with viper's bugloss?

No flowers appear in the first year. That is normal. Viper's bugloss first makes a rosette and flowers only in its second year, sometimes later still.

The plant dies once it has flowered. That is also part of being a biennial. When a few stems are left to shed their seed, new plants come up.

The young rosettes have holes in them. Slugs may be the cause, because viper's bugloss can be prone to them. Look for them on a damp evening and remove them.

The plant stays small and hardly flowers. Perhaps its spot is too dark or too wet. Then sow or plant again, in a sunny, dry place.

Seedlings come up everywhere. The seed stays viable for a long time and can wait in the ground. Cut off the stems before the seed ripens.

Which insects and birds use viper's bugloss?

Bees, butterflies, moths and hoverflies pollinate the flowers of viper's bugloss. For the Essex skipper (Thymelicus lineola), a common butterfly from late June to late August, viper's bugloss is an important nectar plant. The broad-bordered bee hawk-moth (Hemaris fuciformis), a fairly rare moth of the dunes, drinks from the tubular flowers. The dingy skipper (Erynnis tages), an extremely rare species, sometimes visits the flowers too. No bird is described by name as using viper's bugloss.

Is viper's bugloss poisonous?

The leaves of viper's bugloss are mildly poisonous. No cases of poisoning in people have been described. The bristly hairs on leaves and stem can badly irritate the skin, though. So do not eat the leaves.