Botanical name: Echium vulgare
Folk names: Snake flower, blue devil

Type: Biennial

Wildlife: Bees are all types are attracted by this flower and feed from its nectar, including buff-tailed and red-tailed bumblebees and red mason bees. Goldfinches were spotted feeding on the seeds in one customer’s garden!

Flowers: June to August

Decorative merit: Dense, cylindrical spikes of bell-shaped violet-blue flowers on erect, bristly stems with lance-shaped hairy leaves.

Where: Shade or part-sun. Sunny herb patches, gravel gardens, back of sunny borders with well-drained soil. Good for a coastal or south-facing garden. Has grown up to around 60cm in my south-facing, well-drained herb patch.

Folklore: Appearance of the half-coiled flowers and protruding stems led to its ‘viper’ folk name.  

Borage family relative - a fantastic annual plant for bees that can be direct sown.

Donate seeds to Exeter Seed Bank