Our garden is blessed/infested with green alkanet but this year we have a
new arrival - something that looks like green alkanet but has white flowers
instead of blue. Is this a common variation, a new plant or should I be
calling Kew Gardens?

Thanks,
Paul DS.

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In article ,
"Paul D.Smith" writes:
| Our garden is blessed/infested with green alkanet but this year we have a
| new arrival - something that looks like green alkanet but has white flowers
| instead of blue. Is this a common variation, a new plant or should I be
| calling Kew Gardens?

There are several similar plants - comfrey for one - but it could
well be a white variant. It might be worth propagating if it is,
but I doubt that it will make your fortune.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...

In article ,
"Paul D.Smith" writes:
| Our garden is blessed/infested with green alkanet but this year we have
a
| new arrival - something that looks like green alkanet but has white
flowers
| instead of blue. Is this a common variation, a new plant or should I
be
| calling Kew Gardens?

There are several similar plants - comfrey for one - but it could
well be a white variant. It might be worth propagating if it is,
but I doubt that it will make your fortune.


Propagate alkanet? What kind of madness is this? I'd sooner feed it some
tasty RoundUp!

I thought I had cleared my garden of the stuff (which my wife calls "those
ugly cabbages"), but this year it's back with a vengeance :-(

Bob

In article ,
"Bob" writes:
|
| Propagate alkanet? What kind of madness is this? I'd sooner feed it some
| tasty RoundUp!
|
| I thought I had cleared my garden of the stuff (which my wife calls "those
| ugly cabbages"), but this year it's back with a vengeance :-(

Well, a great many people like it. It grows like a weed around
here, but it is easy to remove from where you don't want it, and
is a decorative wild or semi-wild garden plant. The flowers make
an adequate borage substitute in Pimms, too :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

I have to ask what this easy method for removing it is? Where I live it has
roots about 18inches+ deep and pops up all over the place almost in the time
it takes to walk to the compost bin with the previous load.

Using it in Pimms sounds like a nice idea which I'd be totally sloshed if I
tried that as a method of containment ;-).

Paul DS.

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...

In article ,
"Bob" writes:
|
| Propagate alkanet? What kind of madness is this? I'd sooner feed it
some
| tasty RoundUp!
|
| I thought I had cleared my garden of the stuff (which my wife calls
"those
| ugly cabbages"), but this year it's back with a vengeance :-(

Well, a great many people like it. It grows like a weed around
here, but it is easy to remove from where you don't want it, and
is a decorative wild or semi-wild garden plant. The flowers make
an adequate borage substitute in Pimms, too :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article ,
"Paul D.Smith" writes:
| I have to ask what this easy method for removing it is? Where I live it has
| roots about 18inches+ deep and pops up all over the place almost in the time
| it takes to walk to the compost bin with the previous load.

If you get it when it is relatively small, it is easy to pull out,
or they can be hoed.

If it is bigger, you need to dig it out, so that it breaks off
several inches down; it will rarely regrow from its deep roots.

Compare that with the nightmare weeds, and it is a doddle. It
is no harder to remove than many vegetables!

| Using it in Pimms sounds like a nice idea which I'd be totally sloshed if I
| tried that as a method of containment ;-).

It is quite vigorous, isn't it?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

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Nick Maclaren wrote:

It is quite vigorous, isn't it?

The straight species is, but a while back, I discovered a superb form
with very broad creamy white leaf edges. It arose spontaneously as a
single shoot on a plant growing 'wild' in an untended area of my front
garden. For a couple of years, I ripped away all plain green shoots
and last year it was a very pretty sight - especially when in flower.
It simply will not propagate however and I suspect [No, I'm almost
certain] that it is a sectional chimaera (Nick will explain that one!)
to boot. This year a few predations from snails have left it looking
very sorry for itself - made worse by the fact that last summer's
endless scorching weakened it considerably.


Dave Poole
Torquay, Coastal South Devon UK
Winter min -2°C. Summer max 34°C.
Growing season: March - November
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