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
Neat!
ReplyDeleteInteresting!
ReplyDeleteI can hear that tree scream from here !
ReplyDeleteOuch!
ReplyDeleteOh my! Fences don't make good neighbors...to trees!
ReplyDeleteWhy, oh why, oh why???
ReplyDeleteHi everyone, I'm more intrigued by how one of the branches has its own hole in the fence to poke through. It does look rather magnificent overall, though perhaps the owners didn't realise how big it was going to grow when they planted - a problem in waiting they've set up for the current house owners.
ReplyDeleteFrom Zoe who emails:
ReplyDeleteMinute I saw the photo it took me straight back to Highgrove and the bonkers hobbit house HRH has on the lawn in front of the house. Why do people do these things to trees?
The neighbour would be within their rights to saw the branch off!
Zoe - it hangs over a public footpath, so there's no neighbours. From a distance, which is how most people see it, it's a rather magnificent tree. It's only when you get closer, that you see there's a bit of a problem. I suspect the people who planted it decades ago didn't know there'd be a problem and the current owners are probably in a bit of a dilemma re what to do for the best.