Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Plant Identification => Plant Identification Questions and Answers => Topic started by: mark smyth on July 30, 2011, 06:36:05 PM
-
Last year I bought a blue flowered perennial that looks like an Aster but isn't. The leaves are hairy. The label has gone. It's just started flowering. What is it?
-
Felicia??
-
No David. It's about 1m / 3 feet high
-
So is this
http://www.kew.org/plants-fungi/Felicia-amelloides.htm
-
Erigeron speciosus Mark?
-
No Davey.
David from memory Felicias have thick smooth leaves
I've emailed the nursery
-
It's not Erigeron speciosus, which looks like this (different leaves, particularly):
[attachthumb=1]
Why is it not an aster?
-
Looks like an Aster to me. ???
-
Maybe the nursery had a wrong label
-
David from memory Felicias have thick smooth leaves
From the KEW page link David showed :
"Felicia amelloides is a densely branched herbaceous perennial, which grows up to 1 m high. The stems are green to dark red and the leaves are rough, hairy and borne opposite each other on the stem. The leaves are dark green above and light green below. Because of a covering of short stiff hairs, stems and leaves can feel like fine sandpaper to the touch.
The compound flower head (capitulum) is bright yellow in the centre (the bisexual disc florets) with a ring of sky-blue female ray florets around the outside. The particularly striking flower heads are about 3 cm in diameter and are held well above the leaves on leafless stalks, which are up to 18 cm long. Unlike many other members of the daisy family, the flowerheads of F. amelloides do not close at night.
The cypselas (fruits) are dark brown with tiny hairs. Each fruit is shed with its pappus which, acting like a tiny parachute, helps to disperse them."
-
Just compared it to Aster x frikartii 'Monch' and it appears identical.
-
Thanks everyone
Does anyone grow the 'climbing' pink flowered Felicia? Mine died last winter
-
climbing Felicia
I cant find my photos showing it 'climbing' behind a trellis. It's habit would be the same as winter Jasmine - tie in to a frame and the stems tumble out
-
So, what have we settled on for Mark's "non-Aster"??
-
I'm going to the nursery tomorrow
-
Mark, that looks a lot like a felicia to me, I've grown several from Silverhill seed and there is a huge variation in their habits. I'll take a look in the field guide I have but it sure looks felicia like to me.
-
The climbing pink Felecia only climbs if you insist. I mean you have to train it onto something and tie it, otherwise it flops all over the ground, even if it is planted right beside something to climb on. Nice though.
-
The climbing pink Felecia only climbs if you insist. I mean you have to train it onto something and tie it, otherwise it flops all over the ground, even if it is planted right beside something to climb on. Nice though.
and so easy from cuttings
-
So, what have we settled on for Mark's "non-Aster"??
Mark,
if it's not an aster it's possibly a Boltonia, especially if it grows a metre tall.
The pink felicia is an absolute menace here >:( - We spent time on the weekend removing a couple of square metres of it! Originally grown from a slip growing through a railing fence ::) It self layers and spreads very fast - even during the drought!
It probably sets seed if you want some!
cheers
fermi
-
Looks like an Aster to me. ???
Looks like an Aster to me too. I vote for Aster.
-
There's an argument which says that every daisy looks like an Aster, and vice versa! ;D
I'm going with Felicia. David's link is quite convincing.... good description and even the South African stamp on the page has the same foliage and formation at the growing tips. ;)
It's the fruit that makes the difference of course......
-
I've grown the Boltonia which looks exactly like Mark S's pics.
But when you google Boltonia you mostly get B asterioides which is white - I can't remember the species which I grew but the pics on the web of B. "Jim Crockett" come closest in appearance. The height alone counts out a lot of others.
cheers
fermi
-
Any news from the Nursery, Mark?
-
I just didnt get the time to visit. It only 10km / 7 miles away. I must try to get some time today. It's our best nursery and garden. Angie, Fermi and Will have been there
-
and the answer is .... Monch