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Wildflower/garden escapee? ID, please

soulboysoulboy Posts: 429
in Plants
I was walking across some grassy land that used to be a housing estate a few days ago and came across this plant. It was obviously liked by bees and there were several of them dotted around.

The land is about to be used for new housing so I thought it might be worth saving a couple and transplanting them somewhere.

Posts

  • herbaceousherbaceous Posts: 2,318
    That looks very like the Comfrey I grow for my compost @soulboy and the bees do love it, it is near a jasmine type climber also loved by the bees and trimming the ivy can get quite dangerous  :o
    "The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it."  Sir Terry Pratchett
  • Ladybird4Ladybird4 Posts: 36,865
    Hi Soulboy. That is comfrey and an absolute thug in gardens. There is one variant - Bocking 14 - which is much better behaved. Bees love it as you've noticed and it makes excellent plant food if the leaves are added to water and allowed to steep - warning though it smells absolutely disgusting when you do this. I suspect that these will be the thuggish type so on your head be it if you introduce it to your garden without restricting it.
    Cacoethes: An irresistible urge to do something inadvisable
  • soulboysoulboy Posts: 429
    Thank you both - I should have guessed it was comfrey. I was only thinking of moving a couple if it was a rarity, and not to my garden but elsewhere - we have lots of green spaces and woodland where I live.

    I knew about the usefulness of comfrey as a plant food from Gardener's World, Monty regularly praises its virtues and mentions its stink.
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