Forum home Plants
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Hi, does anyone have any idea what this is? It's grown huge, but no sign of any flower all summer

245

Posts

  • LG_LG_ Posts: 4,353
    No, I wasn't sure about the leaves either. They are biennial though, so you wouldn't see the flower stalk until the second year. But then, boy would you see it! 
    'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
    - Cicero
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,023
    It could be Hesperis. It is a biennual which means it will flower in it's 2nd year. Mine grow quite tall with clumps of purple flowers. There is a white one too. They are scented and seed themselves.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • RowenagRowenag Posts: 22
    I think from the replies, nobody has said it's a weed so I will just leave it and see what happens next year and hope a flower appears. It just seems quite invasive and looks bigger every time I see it so I didn't know whether to just dig it out
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,064
    Teasel for me too.  I planted some once because goldfinches apparently love the seedheads.   None of those in our area and no other birds seen eating the seeds and a garden full of baby teasels followed.  For years.  Total PITA as the leaves are unattractive, the flower is unattractive and the seed production is prolific. 

    You have been warned!
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • RowenagRowenag Posts: 22
    Obelixx said:
    Teasel for me too.  I planted some once because goldfinches apparently love the seedheads.   None of those in our area and no other birds seen eating the seeds and a garden full of baby teasels followed.  For years.  Total PITA as the leaves are unattractive, the flower is unattractive and the seed production is prolific. 

    You have been warned!
    Thank you. I've read more about teasel now and I think it is that. It describes a large rosette in the first year, which just hugs the ground which this is. We have a lot of goldfinches coming to the garden so it's a shame to remove it, but the article I just read does advise caution because it's very invasive so I think it has to go!
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,023
    My teasels have broader, rougher, wrinklier leaves than that.

    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,139
    My teasels have broader, rougher, wrinklier leaves than that.

    So do mine ... with definite prickles on the back of the midrib. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,064
    The RHS says their leaves can be simple or pinnate - https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/5959/Dipsacus-fullonum/Details 

    I remember some of the unwanted seedlings being easy to spot as they had pointy leaves but some were rounder ended, like @Busy-Lizzie's photo and I'd be conned into thinking they may be bay primula and leave them a while longer till their size made it obvious.


    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • AsarumAsarum Posts: 660
    Evening Primrose?
    East Anglia
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Evening Primrose. Not Echium or Teasel. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

Sign In or Register to comment.