Author Topic: Can anyone identify this, please?  (Read 2416 times)

peanuts

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Can anyone identify this, please?
« on: April 20, 2014, 07:00:22 »
Last autumn we were digging over our daughter's allotment in Leeds.  The next-door plot was being given up, and the lady pressed me to take some small seedlings from a special flowering plant.  She told me the name, but of course I've forgotten it! She didn't like the thought of it being dug over and lost for ever, by the next plot-holder.  I planted them in in our daughter's garden. They kept their leaves all winter, and are now starting to flower.  They are about a foot tall. Can anyone identify it, please?





markfield rover

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Re: Can anyone identify this, please?
« Reply #1 on: April 20, 2014, 09:06:49 »
Cerinthe I think!

Obelixx

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Re: Can anyone identify this, please?
« Reply #2 on: April 20, 2014, 13:57:49 »
Cerinthe major purpurascens aka honeywort.  An annual that will self seed if happy.
Obxx - Vendée France

peanuts

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Re: Can anyone identify this, please?
« Reply #3 on: April 20, 2014, 17:05:09 »
Thank you so much for the identification!  Definitely that, no question.  Now I've read more about it, I'll try and grab some seeds when they are ripe so as to get it growing here in SW France .

antipodes

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Re: Can anyone identify this, please?
« Reply #4 on: April 22, 2014, 11:08:00 »
Yep, known as the purple honeywort. They self seed like mad, they are very hardy, mine are in flower now. The bees and bumble bees love them. They grow very well here in France and they are not fussy about the state of the ground.
2012 - Snow in February, non-stop rain till July. Blight and rot are rife. Thieving voles cause strife. But first runner beans and lots of greens. Follow an English allotment in urban France: http://roos-and-camembert.blogspot.com

pigeonseed

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Re: Can anyone identify this, please?
« Reply #5 on: April 23, 2014, 11:54:01 »
Yes - they're lovely! Very tough little beggars too, don't seem to need any help.

 

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