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
Wonderful colours
ReplyDeleteThanks Gwenfar - I like the atmosphere of this photo as mist was just beginning to descend on the fields at the bottom of the hill as the sun was going down. Victoria was telling me yesterday on her Awkward Hill blog that this particular ash are a popular choice for public planting as they cope with compaction. Fingers crossed they don't succumb to ash die back.
ReplyDeleteA fabulous comment from Kris at KGarden again, who used my Contact Form when there was a problem with the OpenId process...
ReplyDeleteThere are lots of Ash Raywood in the Highway's roadside planting along the
edge of the A605, driving West from the Peterborough junction of the A1(M),
which look lovely when they Turn in the Autumn - eventually becoming almost
black. I spent years driving that route wondering what they were before
stopping some years ago and taking a leaf home to figure out what species,
let alone variety!, they were - it doesn't look much like an Ash at first
glance!
I have tried to buy some for my area of Autumn Garden here, but sadly with
the Ash Die-back threat the nursery was not allowed to transport them.
Fingers crossed that the existing plants survive the threat.
Thanks for your persistence with commenting Kris :)
DeleteYou've reminded me that I was researching the Road Beautifying Scheme which used to advise on the best roadside trees to plant around the country a number of years ago. I was first struck by the trees on the A34 travelling down to Portsmouth and soon after found a tiny snippet about the scheme in a book on the history of Hilliers nursery. I must pick up that thread again...
Ha! I don't mean I was literally struck by the trees, but by their beauty one sunny November day!
DeleteI love this photo and the title is fantastic. I think it's one of my favourite posts on Veg Plotting, for all its simplicity.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lucy, that's kind of you to say :) As you know I have a thing about public planting and I'm pleased I was able to post a good photo of something so ordinary and every day as a supermarket car park.
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