May

Question 1

Answer 1

Acanthus mollis
From front garden bed, spikey rhubarb like leaf, produces a tall rigid stem of white/silver /purple flowers and seed pods underneath that last into winter. herbaceous and grows prolifically. Root division to propagate

Question 2

Answer 2

Achillea millefolium
Yarrow, small white umbel of flowers

Question 3

Answer 3

Alchemilla mollis
Ladies mantle
Neatly pleated, apple green, fan shaped Soft downy leaves which collect rain and dew drops, lime green flowers which turn brown. Don’t let this plant got to seed as it can become very invasive. (pharoensis is a smaller and less prolific variety)

Question 4

Answer 4

Astrantia major ‘Claret’
5 point palmate leaf with a frilly edge
Flowers are in a papery bract- Claret coloured with a white/green ovary
Can tolerate sun but needs moisture

Question 5

Answer 5

Centaurea cyanus
Blue sapphire colour cornflower, true wildflower. It has tough stems and so used to be called ‘Bluntsickle’. Long thin leaves with a silver hairiness to them.
Distinct bud scales

Question 6

Answer 6

Dahlia ‘Bishop of Llandaff’
Dark purple/ almost black foliage
matt red flower
Has a root tuber but dont pull them apaprt, they only have one growing point and will divide on their own when they are ready
Native to mexico- like their roots dry and to be in full sun, they need pinching out at apex to create more flowers and less chance of wind rock.

Question 7

Answer 7

Echinacea purpurea ‘Alba’
Cone shaped flower in white- usually purple- the petals drop back and down like tutu, the cone is stiff and prickly- echina/ hedgehog
Lance like leaves are coarse and broader at base, on strong hairy stems

Question 8

Answer 8

Eryngium gigantium ‘Silver ghost’
tall flower on a spiky set of thistle like leaves
like dry full sun and have deep tap roots, these will self seed and are biennials
create brilliant structures that stay into autumn and are great for pollinators
cone of flowers surrounded by silver white spikey bracts

Question 9

Answer 9

Leucanthamum vulgare
Ox eye daisy
Produces a platforem of dense daisy like flowers, chop these back to the base after flowering.
Dark stems, the leaf has as flat margin then splits in to a serrated edge.
Basal leaves are dark green and spoon shaped, fairly thick and rubbery

Question 10

Answer 10

Nigella damascena ‘Persian Jewels’
Love in a Mist
Nigella has yellow roots, seeds have wispy points to seed pods.
Feathery fine foliage (carroty) and frilly many petalled flowers- cornflower like but with an open curly stamened middle,

Question 11

Answer 11

Oenethera biennis
Evening primrose
Night time scent
biennial rosette of leaves and in year 2 the leaves elongate.
need free draining gritty soil wiht low nutrients

Question 12

Answer 12

Phlomis fruticosa
Jerusalem sage
Large growing evergreen , with large yellow flowers similar to snapdragons

Question 13

Answer 13

Phlox paniculata ‘Bright eyes’
like a rabbit with pink myxamotis eye
Flat pink flower in a panicle, smooth matt leaf
Pest stem eel worm

Question 14

Answer 14

Rudbeckia flugida var deamii
Black eyed Susan
very dark yellow -jet black in middle of flower,
Hairy leaf with obvious veination, small leaves

Question 15

Answer 15

Symphiotrichum novi-belgii ‘White ladies’
has a blush to the edge of the leaf, small white, late season flowers. narrown leaves

Question 16

Answer 16

verbena bonariensis
purple
nettle like leaf wrinkled, square stem. distinctive dentate serrated leaves, flower from seed, sow seed outside in sandy soil and it will freely naturalise