Plant name:Echium pininana

Suggested by: Mike Burgess of Secret Seeds

Virtues: Dramatic, tall, exotic plant. Much loved by bees and butterflies. Where space is limited, this plant just grows straight up.

Flower: Huge spires of blue flowers.

Foliage: Large bristly rosette of long exotic-looking leaves.

Habit: Trunk sometimes dips and goes back up again, to around 3 or 4 yards tall.

Season: Spring.

Companions: Mediterranean-style plants.