Mystery flower

May 16, 2006

Mystery flower

Anywhat this pretty little weed is? I spotted it on my way to the plot, the flowers glowing neon blue in the alleyway.

I am off to try to identify it in one of my books but I bet one of you can tell me what it is. It's almost pretty enough to want for my garden ...

16 May 2006 21:37:23 | Flowers

10 Comments

We have it too, I always assumed it was some sort of borage.

Posted by: Anne | May 16, 2006 at 10:53 PM

You can find that flower everywhere in North London at the moment, I think it's taking over. What with my expertise in plant identification, I have no idea what it is, but I'm always reminded of stinging nettles when I see it.

Posted by: Mildew | May 17, 2006 at 11:26 AM

I think it is an Anchusa, but not sure which one. http://images.google.com/images?client=safari&rls=en-us&q=ANCHUSA&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

Posted by: Jeremy Cherfas | May 17, 2006 at 01:47 PM

That's an Anchusa. Member of the Borage family. We call it Bugloss, and it's practically a weed here in the winter, If the bees didn't like it so much I'd cut it down more often.

Posted by: Sage Osterfeld | May 19, 2006 at 07:06 AM

the mystery plant is comfrey

Posted by: bex | May 26, 2006 at 11:20 PM

Nope, sorry Bex, it's definitely not comfrey - I have that on my plot and it's a bit similar but by no means the same plant. I think those of you who said anchusa have it right ...

Posted by: Jane Perrone | May 27, 2006 at 12:58 PM

Your mystery plant could be brunnera (a relation to borage) or some sort of forget-me-not.

Posted by: autumn | June 01, 2006 at 03:21 PM

Hmm ... looks to me like green alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens), which is closely related to bugloss and borage. The roots produce a reddish dye.

Ha ... now you've had so many different answers you're probably completely confused.

Posted by: Rebsie Fairholm | June 06, 2006 at 11:35 PM

Yes, I can confirm it is definitely green Alkanet!

Posted by: Becky Pinniger | June 11, 2006 at 09:29 PM

It looks like a blue form of what I have in pink. I believe it is a type of Stinging Nettle.

Posted by: Mary Ledford | September 22, 2007 at 07:18 PM

The comments to this entry are closed.

Stop the plot, I want to get off I've been wanting to write this post for several days now, but stuff just kept getting in the way. Things allotment-wise are a little overwhelming at the moment. Everything is growing lushly, particularly the weeds, and although we were on top of things, I am not sure we are now. When I visited the plot last night there were radishes the size of my eyeball to harvest, a little shop of horrors-style rhubarb explosion and everything needed time and attention. I am hoping to spend a bit of time on the plot at the weekend but with the book manuscript...