Vipers Bugloss (Echium vulgare)

Photo by Gayla Trail  All Rights Reserved

The Vipers Bugloss is in full effect right now, going for broke in Toronto’s waste spaces and fields. I have a particular fondness for this plant and watch its progress every year yet I have never seen so much before, covering such vast areas. While the plant is known for its ability to thrive in poor, dry soils I can only assume that this year’s bloom has been caused by the strange weather and regular rains we’ve been having.

Gayla Trail
Gayla is a writer, photographer, and former graphic designer with a background in the Fine Arts, cultural criticism, and ecology. She is the author, photographer, and designer of best-selling books on gardening, cooking, and preserving.

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2 thoughts on “Vipers Bugloss (Echium vulgare)

  1. This is one of my favorite plants I have it growing in my garden.The blue is heavenly and then there’s the pink…….

  2. Oh man – this stuff brings out big, sentimental welts on my legs, just from the memory of running through fields of it as a kid.

    In Australia, it’s called either “Salvation Jane” or “Patterson’s Curse”, depending on where you live. “Curse” might be more appropriate, considering it costs tens of millions of dollars a year to control, let alone the other damage it does to environments.

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