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Why Pride of Madeira is such a memorable, drought-tolerant flowering plant

May 10, 2025

The memories of first encounters with certain plants last a lifetime.

Often, such plants are discovered growing in places where they are not given any human care but rely solely on what nature (or God) provides in the particular spot where they have made their home.

For me, one such plant is the Pride of Madeira (Echium candicans). This plant appears at the top of the list of drought-tolerant, heavy-flowering species. My first meeting with it occurred on Catalina Island. I saw it growing in reckless abandon on a bluff overlooking the entrance to a renovated building known as the Catalina Casino, although it was never used for gambling. (Casino means “little house” in Italian and is meant as a gathering place for entertainment.) Sandy soil on ocean-exposed bluffs creates an identical microclimate to that found on Madeira, an archipelago situated 400 miles off the northwest coast of Africa. It so happens that the Canary Islands, located 300 miles south of Madeira, are the only other place that qualifies as Pride of Madeira’s habitat.

For two decades, I have had this plant growing in my front yard, having seen many generations come and go. It grows rapidly to a height of six feet, flowers prolifically in its second year, and then drops off in flower production in subsequent years until it’s mostly just foliage. At that point, it is removed, but in the meantime, the next generation of seedlings, germinated from its seeds, has matured in its vicinity.

Pride of Madeira possesses uniquely charming, fuzzy floral cones that can rise up to a foot long. Mine are mauve in color but they may appear in every hue of blue, from baby or powder blue to royal and marine blue or purple. It is also true that, depending on the amount of sunlight or your angle of view, the flower color you see may vary. There are occasional pink or magenta specimens of this plant as well.

The species epithet of candicans means white, yet the white flowered version of this plant is another species, available from San Marcos Growers (smgrowers.com) as white tower of jewels (Echium simplex). Altogether, San Marcos grows six different Echium varieties, including San Bruno Pink and two varieties with variegated foliage. It should be noted that the most spectacular member of this group is red tower of jewels (Echium wildpretii), whose gigantic flower cones may extend to eight feet in length. It’s easily sprouted seeds that are widely available through Internet vendors. Although red tower of jewels produces only one inflorescence per plant, when many of them grow side by side, it is a stunning display of unparalleled botanical glory. Somehow, the sight of them evokes the scene from the movie “Fantasia” where broomsticks are marching mischievously en masse.

Aside from the exotic look of its flowers, Pride of Madeira is noteworthy as a pollinator plant. On any warm day this spring, I would not be exaggerating if I told you that I would see hundreds of bees buzzing around my plant which is graced by several dozen flower cones. It you have fruit trees, it is highly recommended that you plant pollinator species such as this among them. In order for fruit to grow to its maximum size and sweetness, it needs to be pollinated multiple times, so the more bees that are around, the better. Here it is useful to recall that bees are most attracted to blue, purple. violet, white, and yellow flowers.

Honeybees are necessary for pollination of most fruit trees as well as cucurbit vegetables such as cucumber, squash, pumpkin, cantaloupe, and watermelon. However, solanaceous vegetables — tomato, pepper, and eggplant — have anthers that hold on tightly to the pollen attached to them. This pollen can only be dislodged by a strong breeze or by the frenzied wing-flapping of bumblebees or solitary bees. Bumblebees do not pollinate in the manner of honeybees by carrying pollen on their bodies from flower to flower. Instead, they practice buzz pollination, also known as floral sonication. This practice involves buzzing next to flowers whose pollen is only released when there is a powerful air current next to their anthers so that pollen can be released to the adjacent female stigmas, facilitating pollination. Flowers that attract both honeybees and bumblebees include borage, salvias, sunflower, milkweed (Asclepius spp.), California native yarrow (Achillea millefolium), and lavender.

Last month, I mentioned in this column that our Los Angeles spring is characterized by the explosive bloom of yellow flowers on trees and shrubs. Allan Frank, who gardens in Valley Village, sent me photos of what is probably the most brilliant of all yellows you will find in the plant kingdom. It is found in the phosphorescent blooms of yellow trumpet tree (Handroanthus ochraceus or Tabebuia chrysotricha). He saw it flowering on the corner of Whitsett Avenue and Magnolia Boulevard in Valley Village, although it is no longer in bloom. This is a sparse, slow-growing tree that eventually reaches a height of 25 feet. It barely needs to be pruned and is immune to insect pests and diseases. For thousands of years, the native people of the Andes have made the inner bark of trumpet trees into a medicinal tea that is useful in fighting infections, shrinking tumors, numbing aches and pains, and strengthening the autoimmune system in general.

Today and tomorrow at the Los Angeles County Arboretum, the Geranium Society is putting on a show and sale. Many exotic geraniums will be on hand. Hours are 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. today and 8 a.m.- 3 a.m. tomorrow. Admission to the show is included with a general admission ticket to the arboretum, located at 301 North Baldwin Avenue in Arcadia. The Geranium Society meets once a month at the arboretum and welcomes anyone who would like to join. For more information, go to geraniumsociety.org.

California native of the week: Rocky Mountain or great yellow pond lily (Nuphar lutea) has a habitat that stretches from Alaska down to central California. The genus name Nuphar means water lily in Greek. Great yellow pond lily grows from rhizomes and has large leaves like any other water lily with one flower per leaf. The petals are held tightly together so that its flower, 2-4 four inches in diameter, resembles a tulip. Fruit is an edible capsule that has served as a source of carbohydrate for indigenous peoples of the Northwest. Nuphar lutea seeds and bare root plants are available at Etsy.com.

Do you have a pollinator plant to crow about? If so, send an email about it to [email protected]. Your questions and comments as well as gardening conundrums and successes are always welcome.

Orange County Register

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Why Pride of Madeira is such a memorable, drought-tolerant flowering plant

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