Jack Go To Bed At Noon
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl
That is a beautiful view - I love the way the light is falling. Is the second photograph of your place?
ReplyDeleteHi Kate,
ReplyDeleteI got to the allotment and though 'blow I'm shooting into the light', but got pleasantly surprised with the result. Yes, the second shot's my place - I'm doing fornightly postings - rotating round the 4 corners of the garden plus top and bottom views of the allotment. At some point I might also put them together into a picture diary of the whole year...
I like the idea of the picture diary ... oops, I almost wrote 'dairy'.
ReplyDeleteI've added your blog to my 'playing in the dirt' links.
Hi Kate - I have problems with that too - especially when typing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link - it's much appreciated :)