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
Agapanthe?
ReplyDeleteYou are correct Naomi - we disembarked from the ferry and headed straight for Jardins Agapanthe and a tour with Alexandre Thomas himself. He gave me that jar of jam as well!
DeleteOh you were spoilt for choice there VP. Looking forward to reading all about your garden visits.
ReplyDeleteWe were indeed Anna!
DeleteOh my, it looks fun though!
ReplyDeleteIt was! Still getting my head around it all :)
DeleteEnjoying all the photos. Looks like fun :) x
ReplyDeleteThanks Karen, it was a lot of fun. Tiring though! :)
DeleteI still cannot understand how youboth had the energy to visit up to five gardens in one day! That's an incredible rate of garden bothering, it really is.
ReplyDeleteHaving completed the map now, I find it hard to believe myself! We're slackers though, we ran out of time for the Garden Greeter tour of the public gardens in Chartres (it was raining, so we felt less guilty about it!) ;)
DeleteLooks like you had a wonderful time in France!
ReplyDeleteYes, we did thanks. We'll be talking about this for months if not years to come :)
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