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Science/nature/environment

Help please.

(52 Posts)
Lona Thu 05-Sept-13 13:55:06

Can anyone tell me what these two plants are please?

JessM Fri 06-Sept-13 07:50:10

Def not Alchemilla mollis jen, much yellower.
The flowers are like mini ragwort daisy types. But the ragwort family all have fluffy seeds. bags you know the kind of common little burs that stick onto your clothes. Well not much bigger than those, but with hooks only at one end. I will venture out between showers and capture it on digital media.

Jendurham Thu 05-Sept-13 23:22:40

Jess, could yours be an Alchemilla, known as Lady's Mantle? There are various types, some spiky, and they grow at the coast as well as inland.

Jendurham Thu 05-Sept-13 23:09:29

Both plants can be identified by the leaves as much as the flowers.
That's how I knew the blue one was not periwinkle. I have both Vinca Major and Minor in my garden.

j08 Thu 05-Sept-13 22:29:33

That's amazing Minty. I had no idea about the second one. I've been calling mine by the wrong name for several years now! shock

Are you a professional gardener?

thatbags Thu 05-Sept-13 21:01:30

jess, could you do a sketch and photograph the sketch? Especially of the pepperpot burs because I can't quite imagine them.

JessM Thu 05-Sept-13 20:29:03

Minty are you any good at wild flowers? That was a very precise ID of those 2.
I am pretty good but I saw one yesterday that confounded me - and the wildlife trust volunteer doing a flower survey, who i was chatting to didn't have it on her list. Welsh cliff top environment. Short yellow spikes - covered in small flowers - a bit like a prettier version of ragwort. But not that family. Not a St Johns wort family either. Here's the interesting thing - the seed pods are like little burs. Shaped like a tiny pepperpot and covered in hooks one end. I have drawn a blank in my usually excellent ID book. No photos (yet) - any ideas?

Lona Thu 05-Sept-13 19:09:00

Minty, Yes, after comparing the google images of verbena and heliotrope, you are right, it is heliotrope. The leaves are exactly the same.

Some of the photos on google look very similar hmm

Anyway, thank you all.

Minty Thu 05-Sept-13 18:13:07

The first one is Heliotrope or called the Cherry Pie plant as it smells like cherry pie.
The second one is not Periwinkle it is Ceratostigma willmottianum known as Chinese Plumbago.

Nelliemoser Thu 05-Sept-13 15:44:04

I have just been pulling a lot of Periwinkle out from under my front window. Its lovely but it needs to be kept in its place. Better go out and clear up the mess.

Lona Thu 05-Sept-13 14:58:20

jings thanks .

j08 Thu 05-Sept-13 14:56:27

Sorry for the twice

That's what mine is and it looks the same. I have to grow it in a pot as my soil is chalky and it likes peat.

Lona Thu 05-Sept-13 14:53:55

No it's much bigger than periwinkle, It is Plumbago!
Thank you jendurham, I'll be able to sleep tonight!

Thanks when and anno, this is not a ground cover plant, it's a small bush, but kind of you both.

j08 Thu 05-Sept-13 14:53:32

Lithospermum! The blue one. I think!

j08 Thu 05-Sept-13 14:51:18

Lithospermum! The blue one.

whenim64 Thu 05-Sept-13 14:49:48

It comes in different shades, too.

whenim64 Thu 05-Sept-13 14:49:07

Periwinkle - it's petals are distinctive.

Jendurham Thu 05-Sept-13 14:46:34

Sorry, plumbago.

whenim64 Thu 05-Sept-13 14:46:18

Yes, you're right, anno. I've got that in my back garden. Such a lovely colour.

Jendurham Thu 05-Sept-13 14:45:53

Or the blue one could be Chinese plubago, ceratostigma.

annodomini Thu 05-Sept-13 14:40:11

I think the blue one is Vinca minor, otherwise known as Periwinkle.

Lona Thu 05-Sept-13 14:34:25

Thanks jings I just googled it and I think you're right!

j08 Thu 05-Sept-13 14:30:00

verbena

j08 Thu 05-Sept-13 14:28:20

The purple one is, I think, Verbena.

The blue one I've got one of and can't remember what it is called!

Lona Thu 05-Sept-13 13:59:09

The first one has been flowering for weeks now, I've never come across it before, and the second one is in a wall at the front, it's growing into a small bush, and people keep asking me what it is.

I'd be very grateful if anyone knows. smile

Lona Thu 05-Sept-13 13:56:30

This is the second one....