A puzzler for you???

Good guy · Posted: Sat May 17, 2014 9:38 am Post subject: A puzzler for you???

Any ideas, anyone?

Greengage · Posted: Sat May 17, 2014 10:27 am Post subject:

first guess sheep sorrel

tippben · Posted: Sat May 17, 2014 10:56 am Post subject:

teasel? horseradish? or that funny milk thistle thing that isn't spiky like a thistle?

Good guy · Posted: Sat May 17, 2014 6:09 pm Post subject:

It's teasel. Dunno how it got there, though I've just recently planted some out in another part of the garden. The goldfinches love it and the seed heads are very decorative, dried.
Funny you should mention sheep's sorrel, Greengage. It used to be a real pest in my early years here but until this year I haven't seen much of it. This year it's back with a vengeance.

tippben · Posted: Sun May 18, 2014 2:19 pm Post subject:

Like you, I grew teasel for the birds. However, it became such a weed in my cramped garden that I naturalized it into local neglected areas nearby. I now remove it on sight, except for one tiny area.

Good guy · Posted: Sun May 18, 2014 10:45 pm Post subject:

A friend gave me a teasel plant years ago. It flourished but no seedlings resulted - or if any did, they didn't survive. So last year I extracted seed from the dried seed heads that sit in a pot in the sitting room window and sowed them in a seed tray. A good few germinated, which says something about their robustness, and it is these I've planted. Some are in some 'wild' ground at the roadside in the estate and a few are in a place within the garden where I should be able to keep them within bounds.
I'm still puzzled as to how a stray seed got to be where the plant in the photo is growing. But I suppose being effective opportunists makes plants good at spreadin.

Greengage · Posted: Mon May 19, 2014 7:20 pm Post subject:

Ahem sorry to burst your bubbles here but that is not teasel, I think it is Rumex acetosa a sorell introduced with a pot plant, see if you can tempt silver surfer to have a look by posting it on a new fomum whats this Plant identification.

Silver surfer · Posted: Mon May 19, 2014 11:06 pm Post subject:

Been really busy ..sorry.
I couldn't see the prickly thorny bits on the back of the leaves for teasel...Dipsacus fullonum.

I haven't a clue other than a lettuce plant starting to bolt????

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=dipsacus+fullonum+leaves&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=8416U9vHF4Wl0QWFxoHoCw&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1920&bih=1019#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=7wmlYkwnesp9hM%253A%3BYngcgoyYTRK-cM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.aphotoflora.com%252Fimages%252Fdipsacaceae%252Fdipsacus_fullonum_wild_teasel_leaf_thorns_04-07-06.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.aphotoflora.com%252Fd_dipsacus_fullonum_teasel.html%3B640%3B480

Goodguy if you collected seeds it must have flowered.
I would love to see good pics when it flowers again.

Good guy · Posted: Mon May 19, 2014 11:12 pm Post subject:

It does have, as you put it, 'prickly thorny bits' all down the spine on the back of each leaf. So I presume that I'm right, it's a teasel. Thanks, SS.