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
Lovely pictures! Will post a link in my autumn colours post.
ReplyDeleteThanks Charlotte, quite a few people have galloped over to have a look :-)
DeleteOne of the best places to be for autumn colours :) Great shots!
ReplyDeleteMarvellous pics, it's a great place to go.
ReplyDeleteWonderful colours. It's a terrific place to visit, especially at this time of year. Flighty xx
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to going there next week with my children :) Am most definitely packing my camera :)
ReplyDeleteHello and welcome :-) Have a great time!
DeleteWow!
ReplyDeleteWow, breathtaking colour. I've enjoyed a couple of autumn trips to Westonbirt when my youngest two were at pre-school. It was a really cheap trip, I think it's probably too expensive for us now, but we really loved visiting together on the coach. Your photos are fantastic, no doubt you had a lovely time there.
ReplyDeleteThe entrance fee is on par with National Trust properties these days. However there was alot on when we were there which made it good value.
DeleteBeautiful! I wish I'd been able to see it in person.
ReplyDeleteLovely photos, I' ve always wanted to go there in Autumn. Lucky you.
ReplyDeleteI live just a few miles away, so yes I am lucky.
DeleteThanks for your comments everyone, I'm glad you enjoyed the photos :-)
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know more beautiful season than autumn ? Even though spring has such magnificent colors ... Perfect pictures!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jolanta and welcome to Veg Plotting :)
DeleteWe went yesterday - colour was glorious, but it was soooo crowded, not really ideal for me. Either it was much emptier when you were there, or you were very patient waiting for people to move out of your photos!
ReplyDeleteWe went to Batsford on Wednesday, which also has wonderful colour at this time of year.
The car park was packed but people seemed to disperse so quickly. I suspect it'll be really crowded this week as it's half term. I went to Batsford in the spring and the leaf colour was pretty good back then too :)
DeleteI haven't made it there this year, although frustratingly, I've driven past a couple of times on my way to do other things. Even from the road it looks amazing - and this has not been a great year for autumn colour. Thanks for the virtual visit!
ReplyDeleteThe Acer Glade in the old arboretum and the maples in Silk Wood are the places to go Victoria. There's a very interesting climate change experiment in Silk Wood too.
Delete