Mystery Flower (no photo)

15 years ago

I posted in Great Lakes Gardeners, but that site doesn't look very 'used'.

A 'gift' plant has shot up amongst my coneflowers. I only noticed it two weeks ago -- hard to miss as it is now four feet tall! My lawn guy says it is a perennial. For all I know it's a weed, but it's a pretty one.

Flowers are purple spikes. Largest is about 6" long. Spikes are made up of teeny individual blossoms. Leaves are dull green, not notched, about 4" long, tapering to a point from a base about 1 1/2" wide. Somewhat white on underside, single -- not in clusters. There are multiple stalks, each with a tip spike and others below that. This is a sunny garden location. There is just the one plant.

I'm 30 miles north of Chicago.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (7)

chloecat
15 years ago
Have you tried Google?

Here is a link that might be useful: purple spiky flowers
tobygirl
15 years ago
Sounds like a butterfly bush.
Related Discussions
Mystery vine - no photo, description only
Q
Comments (7)
The plant has no real drainage. No wonder the poor thing has flowered only once in 13 years. They have to water it sparingly. The other plants inside the store front are Aglaonema and Philodendron which appear to be growing fine. It's truly a case of plant torture on the vine. The Pandorea should go outdoors in summer. It's not receiving enough sunlight.
...See More
mystery flowering bush
Q
Comments (2)
Kolkwitzia amabilis or beauty bush.....fuzzy calyxes after flowering are an excellent ID key!
...See More
Mystery succulent, photo while in flower
Q
Comments (0)
newly purchased, spring '09 Image link:
...See More
Musa Basjoo mystery photo
Q
Comments (3)
I will second that. I have never seen any other part of the banana that would look like that other than a bloom stalk but have never heard of such an occasion. What type of bananas are these? I guess it know it would flower before it was cut so this just goes to prove the gusto of the banana plant. It knew it was close to bloom, it got cut down and went dormant, then woke up exactly where it was and is pushing bloom with no foliage. This is definitely an interesting case.
...See More
kayjones
15 years ago
My guess would be Buddlea, too. Check out the images on this google search and see if they match.

Here is a link that might be useful: Buddlea images
lynn_d
15 years ago
Are you near water? Purple Loosestrife?

Here is a link that might be useful: Purple loosestrife
chisue
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks, toby and kayjones. I think that is IT! So...what do I do with it? It is really pretty. Can I transplant it -- it's too tall where it is growing.

We have what I have always called 'butterfly bushes' in another part of our yard -- real 'bushes' with small pink flowers -- only about two feet tall. Same thing? (This is HUGE and quite different.)
maire_cate
15 years ago
There are different varieties of butterfly bushes. I have Purple Knight and that gets about 6', my white one grows to about 8' and my pale blue one stays around 3'. They grow so well that I prune them back early in the season before the buds come out. I have one underneath my bay window in the kitchen and that one I trim back whenever the stalks get too high. Just yesterday I went out and cut off the top 2' of each stalk. There's still enough growing time in the season and new little branches will grow and flower. They flower on new wood so pruning doesn't hurt.

I enjoy the one by the bay window because we can watch the butterflies, hummingbirds, bees and hummingbird moths feed on them. Personally I think they're almost a weed because they grow so readily, you can chop them way back and they still survive. The only time I tried to transplant some of the little seedlings that were growing nearby they did wilt and only 1 or 2 made it.

Sometimes if the branches spread out too much I'll tie twine around them to bring them closer. They are fairly indestructible. Most books or plant tags will tell you to cut them back to 12" in early spring. However I cut them back to 8" to 12" in early winter when I'm out cleaning out my perennial beds. I find it looks neater.

Here is a link that might be useful: pruning
chisue
Original Author
15 years ago
Thank you all. It has to be Buddlea, but I'm not sure which variety it is. Anyway, thanks to you I know to prune it in the late winter/early spring. (I leave the coneflowers to feed the birds until then anyway.) I think that is the time to move this plant too, as it's in the *front* of my flowers and is now almost SIX feet tall -- finally actually measured it today.

I've always loved foxgloves and delphininiums but had no luck growing them. I'm so happy this guy decided to drop in and bloom for me -- weed or no weed! What a treat!

My other 'butterfly' bushes are nothing like this. Maybe two feet high with flat clusters of pinkish-red blooms and small leaves. Pretty tame stuff compared to the giant one.