On Fri, 20 May 2011 18:39:04 +0100, "Ian B"
wrote:

Jeff Layman wrote:
On 20/05/2011 10:30, Ian B wrote:
Last year I planted some stachys, which were sweet little furry
things in three inch pots. I just looked at the pots, they're tiny,
and the labels say, 'spread, 14"x24"'. These things are now
gigantic, horizontally far beyond 14" across and sending enormous
furry spikes heavenwards in abundance, while the rose bushes they're
are planted around cower terrified against the furry grey onslaught.
Will these things consume the whole garden?

On a more serious note, the "low level" leaves all seem to be going
yellow and dying off. Is this normal? It doesn't look very
attractive. Is there something I should be doing? Or is it supposed
to be gigantic forests of spikes surrouded by yellowy-brown mulch?


Are you sure that they are a Stachys, and not something like Salvia
argentea?
http://www.landscapedia.info/plant.php?plantID=31288

Definitely stachys. I've still got the pots.

I've got some S. affinis, the so-called "Chinese arthichoke". They too
seem to want to build settlements on the West Bank. The tubers are
what one eats, as with the unrelated Jerusalem artichoke: I haven't
tried them yet, but they're white, and about the size of one's little
finger. The donor told me you can stir-fry them, but that's one method
not mentioned in the Wikip article.

--
Mike.