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
So So Pretty!
ReplyDeleteThanks Clint :)
ReplyDeleteThey're at Dyrham Park - we visited over the Easter Holiday. They have a tulip festival there for the whole of April.
I love absolutely everything about this picture. The colours are beautiful together and the warm sandstone of the house just sets them off. Never been to Dyrham Park, but I'm definitely putting it on my list now...
ReplyDeleteA tulip festival!
ReplyDeleteGreat!
Happy Wordless Wednesday!
Lea
Lea's Menagerie
Gorgeous display...love how the white tulips accent the other colors...looks like pansies...
ReplyDeleteHannah - welcome! It's well worth a visit :)
ReplyDeleteLea - Dyrham Park has lots of Delft pottery, including vases designed specifically for displaying tulips.
Donna - well spotted, pansies are part of the display :)
Dyrham Park tweeted me yesterday to say the the white tulips will be replaced by red ones. There's a succession of different tulips planted in the beds to prolong the display. Clever stuff :)
Beautiful! x
ReplyDeleteIt looks lovely. Much better to admire the result of someone else doing the hard work. I am much too lazy to do that kind of planting (assuming I had any space to do it in!)
ReplyDeletecitybumpkin - lovely to see you again Rach and congratulations on City Bump number 2!
ReplyDeleteEG - I went to The Organic Garden at Holt Farm on Friday and there's a fab bulb display there too. Great to see the results there as they were just putting the bulb order in when I last visited in August!