"Spider" wrote:
On 13/08/2012 15:03, Sue wrote:
The roots of this one are indeed fleshy, spreading stolon type but
I've not let it ever make a large enough clump to find out if it gets
too woody and difficult to deal with. Usually the roots dig out
easily enough each spring.. it's just that more seem to be lurking
secretly, ready to spring up new shoots when I've stopped looking.
Maybe it's reseeding itself every autumn and these are seedlings.
[...]
Sorry for taking so long to follow up but I've got round to taking
some snaps of the Helianthemum at last - it was too windy over the
weekend.
Does this look too deep a shade to be Lemon Queen? I included one of
stems and leaves as well. It's only flowering at about 4ft or so atm,
which is surprising in view of all the rain we've had. I have known
it to be 5' - 6' some years.

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjBnvybf

If anyone's got any other ideas for a well-behaved, tallish, lemon or
creamy-yellow flowering plant to stand up at the back of a border I'm
still dithering over what to put in there.

That 'fleshy' description makes me wonder if you've actually got
Jerusulem Artichoke flowers.

Goodness, now you come to mention it, and looking at pics, they might
well be. The flowers do look very similar to what's growing outside! I
had no idea Jerusalem artichokes were a type of Helianthus root.
One webpage I read said the seed is sometimes added as a constituent of
birdseed, so it could well have got there in the first place from being
dropped by a passing bird. It's certainly a survivor, whatever it is.

From memory, without actually excavating atm, it does have sort of
swollen, fleshy, elongated tuberish parts on the roots, but they're not
particularly knobbly, and I'd never have imagined they were edible or
substantial enough to crop. I've never cooked artichokes but various
online pics of the tubers show some are smoother and longer, so perhaps!

Whatever they are, you're in need of changing them. I've even thought
of some of the lovely soft yellow Echinaceas, but they all seem to be
too short. Pity. I'll keep thinking about it. No hardship, I love
yellowy flowers.

Yes, me too. Particularly creamy yellows - they seem to blend in so well
with almost anything and still give a touch of sunshine.

Thanks Spider.
--
Sue