Does anyone remember my poor echium?

[DeborahJane]

i was mortified when a branch from my neighbours tree squashed my poor echium about 18 months ago. It's been tied up, tidied up and talked to and has made a rather magnificent recovery I think.
I did untie it a couple of weeks ago and one side laid down so it's been strapped up again, this time more discreetly as the "bondage"or should I say bandage will be permanent, i looked at it one day a few months ago and thought it looked a bit like a "clouded" plant so I thought I'd run with. I was given a lot of encouragement from you lovely forum buddies to not give up on it when it first happened so thank you all.
.And here is my echiums now.

It's actually made up of 3 seperate plants, 2 purple and 1 blue, one was meant to be pink but must have been mislabeled . The flowers that have a distinct angle was the one which laid down so I'm hoping next season they'll reach for the sky and be more erect.

 

[marlingardener]

What a magnificent recovery! You certainly helped that plant recover and return to its former glory. Congratulations!

 

[Beverly]

I always love a garden disaster with a happy ending. I can imagine your distress @DeborahJane. I had the most beautiful Ixora coccinea that was growing so enthusiastically and in no time was full of beautiful red blossoms, then the cutter ants came in the night and ate it to the ground (that was before i had D Earth), then i had to move the Ixora because the Jatropha was getting too big which required cutting the Ixora way back just as it was recovering from the ant attack . I asked the gardener who comes to take care of the tree and weeds at the front of the house if he could transplant it for me because i was just recovering from a minor surgery and wasn't supposed to lift anything heavier than a coffee can. But the gardener was happy to move it for me , but he moved it to the wrong location, and he planted it too deep, and backwards . I didn't want to point this out to him for cultural reasons so i paid him and he was gone. Then it started to rain. Then i started thinking about the poor Ixora and went out to the garden in the rain, dug and prepared another hole, uprooted it and moved it to the new hole, right side around and at the proper depth and apologized profusely for all the trouble i had caused it. I asked it please to bud and grow again. I was not hopeful , but after a few months of checking it every day, i truly thought it was dead and then one day i spotted the tiniest of buds and promised i would never move it again. It is doing well, although taking its time, surrounded now at the base with a skirt of DE and i didn't even bust my stitches . The things we gardeners do

 

[zigs]

That looks a lot more Echi now

 

[DeborahJane]

I always love a garden disaster with a happy ending. I can imagine your distress @DeborahJane. I had the most beautiful Ixora coccinea that was growing so enthusiastically and in no time was full of beautiful red blossoms, then the cutter ants came in the night and ate it to the ground (that was before i had D Earth), then i had to move the Ixora because the Jatropha was getting too big which required cutting the Ixora way back just as it was recovering from the ant attack . I asked the gardener who comes to take care of the tree and weeds at the front of the house if he could transplant it for me because i was just recovering from a minor surgery and wasn't supposed to lift anything heavier than a coffee can. But the gardener was happy to move it for me , but he moved it to the wrong location, and he planted it too deep, and backwards . I didn't want to point this out to him for cultural reasons so i paid him and he was gone. Then it started to rain. Then i started thinking about the poor Ixora and went out to the garden in the rain, dug and prepared another hole, uprooted it and moved it to the new hole, right side around and at the proper depth and apologized profusely for all the trouble i had caused it. I asked it please to bud and grow again. I was not hopeful , but after a few months of checking it every day, i truly thought it was dead and then one day i spotted the tiniest of buds and promised i would never move it again. It is doing well, although taking its time, surrounded now at the base with a skirt of DE and i didn't even bust my stitches . The things we gardeners do

Lovely story Beverly. I'm glad you didn't hurt yourself. We do push ourselves but the pleasure outways the pain. There are lots of stuff I do in the garden that I don't really enjoy but its a means to an end hey?. and i just love to go out later, showered and relaxed, wine in hand, surveying my work. Sometimes it's just too cold to do that so I either look from my verandah or just have to wait till the morning.
ove to go out later, showered and relaxed with a wine in my hand surveying my hard work, some times it's just a bit too cold to do that

 

[DeborahJane]

What a magnificent recovery! You certainly helped that plant recover and return to its former glory. Congratulations!

Thsnks marlingardener. I really did think I'd have to say goodbye to it when it happened. It had been such a magnificent specimen, now it's a different magnificent specimen . Obviously a determined "echi," in zigs words

 

[DeborahJane]

Ee_or, ee_or, eee_or!,!! I'm trying to be an ambulance, not a donkey. My echium fell down. The one that had laid down is almost uprooted. I've staked it up with a star picket,with a bit of help. Fingers crossed it will be okay.

 

[Daren]

Well done on saving it Its a fine Echium Deb's Well worth the effort I'd be jumping with glee if I could get one to that standard. Falling trees and branches are a hazard I had an Oak come down on my garden a few years back and it took out a few plants including a vary large buxus topiary ball. I through a few toys out of the pram that day

 

[Beverly]

With all the love it is getting, it will surely be okay @DeborahJane but, fingers crossed here too. It is so beautiful and it is Spring where you are, so surely it has a will to survive. This is the one that was almost laying down? Do you think it could be transplanted a little bit deeper? or maybe just give it a little more soil on top as a security blanket for the roots?

 

[DeborahJane]

Well done on saving it Its a fine Echium Deb's Well worth the effort I'd be jumping with glee if I could get one to that standard. Falling trees and branches are a hazard I had an Oak come down on my garden a few years back and it took out a few plants including a vary large buxus topiary ball. I through a few toys out of the pram that day

I bet you did Daren. So frustrating as it takes so much time for a plant to come into its own. My echium would be i think 5 years old from memory so they are really quite fast growing in the scheme of things.

 

[DeborahJane]

With all the love it is getting, it will surely be okay @DeborahJane but, fingers crossed here too. It is so beautiful and it is Spring where you are, so surely it has a will to survive. This is the one that was almost laying down? Do you think it could be transplanted a little bit deeper? or maybe just give it a little more soil on top as a security blanket for the roots?

Great idea Beverly. Thanks, I will cover it with some nice soil. I have just the thing. I had given up on my compost bin over the past couple of months, not sure why, just seemed like too much trouble, but the other day i needed to top up my above ground veggie garden and remembered my neglected compost bin. It has been composting away all on its own and i had lovely clean smelling compost at my fingertips . It was good quality apart from the odd bit of plastic, bottle tops, and one small ceramic dish that must have gotten lost amongst the peelings. I'm not the only cook in my house, one son who has moved overseas and anither stil at home. Glad they cook but!. I do intend getting another bin going so there is 1 to be used and 1 for future. Egg shells must be crushed first though, i know now.

 

[DeborahJane]

Here is my rescued echium, rescued for the umtenth dozen time, and i never never never exaggerate . This is the view from the back and the stake a rope is obviously here to stay. i have covered the exposed roots with good soil as you suggested Beverly. so thanks again.