We have a number of these appeared in our front garden this year. We certainly haven't planted them. The flower is similar to Osteospermum but carried on long stems with multiple branches.
I'm not sure about that granma. I've done a search on the plant you name and the stem looks very different. I've added another image showing the stems in more detail. Not great images but I took them with a camera phone and I'm used to a normal camera.
No I don't think it is catanche. The petals of that look as those they've been cut short with blunt scissors. and as you say, the stems don't look right.
That's interesting.. we have the wild yellow ones as weeds in my yard. I thought of them as monster mutant dandelions (realizing, of course, they are unrelated). Never knew their name though. Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon. How unusual. Thanks landgirl!
Thanks everybody. Is it very invasive? Should I rip them out now or can I leave them any dead head before any seed sets? I have no idea where they have come from.
Salsify is a vegetable, it used to be grown in cottage gardens from where it escaped into the wild. It's got a long root a bit like a parsnip, and it's supposed to taste of oysters (never tried it though!).
Posts
Catanche, we used to call it as children .used to grow in the quarry fields. Sorry don't know the correct name.
I'm not sure about that granma. I've done a search on the plant you name and the stem looks very different. I've added another image showing the stems in more detail. Not great images but I took them with a camera phone and I'm used to a normal camera.
No I don't think it is catanche. The petals of that look as those they've been cut short with blunt scissors. and as you say, the stems don't look right.
But I haven't a better suggestion, sorry
In the sticks near Peterborough
I don't know if it will help with identification but the flowers close up completely when the sun goes off them.
It's Salsify, Tragopogon porrifolius. It's a relative of the wild plant called Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon.
I should have recognised that
I've got some in the garden though that looks bluer and mine more purplish in my memory, no flowers yet
In the sticks near Peterborough
That's interesting.. we have the wild yellow ones as weeds in my yard. I thought of them as monster mutant dandelions (realizing, of course, they are unrelated). Never knew their name though. Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon. How unusual. Thanks landgirl!
Thanks everybody. Is it very invasive? Should I rip them out now or can I leave them any dead head before any seed sets? I have no idea where they have come from.
I think they're rather nice, I get a few most years. Never enough to be a nuisance.
They're biennials.
I've only just started the yellow ones, T. pratensis, so no flowers til next year
In the sticks near Peterborough
Salsify is a vegetable, it used to be grown in cottage gardens from where it escaped into the wild. It's got a long root a bit like a parsnip, and it's supposed to taste of oysters (never tried it though!).