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Post by merlin on May 14, 2011 7:27:34 GMT
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Post by Lou78W on May 14, 2011 7:50:06 GMT
NOw then Merlin  .....how fortuitous......I have just ordered one....so perhaps next year I can let you have one  |
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Post by merlin on May 14, 2011 9:39:30 GMT
Fortuitous maybe but you know how impetuous we gardeners can be. As it happens I'm visiting my Sis today and she lives almost next door the The Grosvenor GC. I was going to just pop in for a micro-second to buy some Mina Lobata seed that Steve recommended for my arch. I suppose I could just ask if they have an Anchusa. ;D In the Telegraph it said that they like 'free-draining soil' maybe that's why I failed before. However I have a long raised bed (14') that has good imported soil that doesn't get claggy so I'll pop it in there. There's room for more next year though  |
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Post by sweetpea on May 14, 2011 17:12:34 GMT
Where I used to live in Surrey it was a rampant weed growing in almost every garden I worked in. Not the cultivated variety 'Loddon Blue' but the basic Alkanet. Still a pretty plant in its own right and when I first came across it I let it grow in my garden before I realised what a thug it was.
ps This is the plant you get henna the hair dye from.
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Post by merlin on May 14, 2011 17:19:29 GMT
That's interesting SP, I took a pic of a wild flower that looked a bit like an Anchusa today, I'll load it up. After a walk I called in at the GC but they had no Anchusa' of any kind, I did manage to buy a pkt of Mina Lobeta though. I've left them to soak 'till tomorrow.
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Post by sweetpea on May 14, 2011 17:30:39 GMT
I may be wrong here merlin but the mina lobatas I have seen and grown myself have not been particularly tall climbers. Their main feature is the changing colour of the flowers with eventually all three colours showing on the one flower. It has been several years though since I have grown it and you know what memory does at my age  ;D |
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Post by merlin on May 14, 2011 17:48:43 GMT
I may be wrong here merlin but the mina lobatas I have seen and grown myself have not been particularly tall climbers. Their main feature is the changing colour of the flowers with eventually all three colours showing on the one flower. It has been several years though since I have grown it and you know what memory does at my age ;D Maybe but I can't remember |
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Post by merlin on May 14, 2011 17:57:34 GMT
 Could this be the wild one you refered to SP? |
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Post by Cherry on May 14, 2011 18:50:41 GMT
That looks just like my comfrey. I am wrong probably.
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Post by steve on May 14, 2011 18:57:11 GMT
Looks like my Comfrey too Cherry but just googled Anchusa and it is pretty much like Comfrey
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Post by merlin on May 14, 2011 19:30:05 GMT
It was a massive clump, about 20' square !
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Post by Fractal on May 14, 2011 20:02:05 GMT
That is Comfrey! Same family though as said above, different genus. Anchusa's can be propagated by root cuttings too.......very easily! Many years ago at work, we used to grow a lot of our own herbaceous and I remember ripping the pots of Anchusa from the sand beds they stood on (and had rooted into) sprouting loads of small plantlets from the bits of root left behind in the sand. |
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Post by Fractal on May 14, 2011 20:04:20 GMT
......'Loddon Royalist' I seem to recall was the variety.
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Post by merlin on May 15, 2011 17:14:22 GMT
That is Comfrey! Same family though as said above, different genus. Anchusa's can be propagated by root cuttings too.......very easily! Many years ago at work, we used to grow a lot of our own herbaceous and I remember ripping the pots of Anchusa from the sand beds they stood on (and had rooted into) sprouting loads of small plantlets from the bits of root left behind in the sand. That sounds like a good way to make a good profit margin SteveN I've ordered a 'Loddon Royalist' from Crocus today, I'll have a go at 'root cuttings'. When's the best time ? |
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Post by sweetpea on May 15, 2011 17:31:44 GMT
Does look rather like comfrey to me too Ron and I have plenty of it in my plot.
The Alkanet is quite hairy/bristly as I recall and affects some folks skin. I know I always wore gloves when dealing with it.
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.....how fortuitous......I have just ordered one....so perhaps next year I can let you have one 
;D
