is this Astrantia

I`ve lost the label for this one. Can anyone advise. It`s a perennial, planted last year and is about 5 foot tall now.

Thanks all.

 

Don't think so. I'd say a mallow from the leaves but an echinops from the flowers. probably isn't those either. Nice, though.

 

Could it be a Verbena d`ya think? Over 250 species though to trawl through looking for the right one

 

Definitely not Astrantia.
I have been thinking about this. But am struggling.
Shape of flowers wrong for Echinops.
Pretty certain it is not Verbena.
I would love to see a really sharp clear pic of a single flower head.
Please can you add one to this thread.

 

Thanks silver surfer.
Once the rain goes off I`ll get one shortly.

 

Do these help?

 

Thanks Gretzky
That is a really good photo. It is a very tight bud still.
However, I am still struggling.
Hope someone else can help.
If not... please can you add another pic when the flower buds actually open!
It will give clues such as colour,number of petals, shape of actual flowers etc

 

This one is puzzling me also. The flower buds rather resemble a Celosia but the leaves look like Schefflera elegantissima (False Aralia) but I certainly couldn't imagine either blooming in outdoors in Fife at this time of year, and the latter never! ... but the flowerhead is wrong for that.

I agree, need a pic of the actual flowers.

 

Thanks folks. Hopefully they`ll open up in the next week or so and I`ll stick some pics up.

 

When I saw the 2 completely different leaf shapes, my first thought was Sidalcea.
However, the dark, very tight nature of the buds made me reject the idea.
I have tried to research this species.

On this site scroll down to very last picture there is a slightly similar immature bud...."Sidalcea cultivar © 2004 Stewart R. Hinsley,This plant was bought as 'Elsie Heugh', but is not that plant. "

http://www.malvaceae.info/Genera/Sidalcea/gallery.html

Just a thought!

 

My first thought was Sidalcea - from the foliage. I had to go outside and look closely at my buds to see, as Silver Surfer thought, they were not the same.

However, I think Silver Surfer has nailed it - it could well be just a variant. Its a convenient coincidence that my Sidalcea is also budding up now, as opposed to Astrantia which is nearly over.

 

Glad others agree it is a mallow of some sort! The slight change in leaf form as it gets higher up the plant is typical of a malvacea. The bud is very tight and compact rather than the elongated ones that are more typical but does look very like the cultivars in the link in form.

 

Thanks all.

On your suggestions I`ve looked up the Sidalcea and I concur. Although not been able to pinpoint the strain, I`ll take silver surfers idea that it`s a 'variant'.

Maybe when the flowers come out, we can have another go at it

 

Will these new pics help anyone positively ID? I may ditch it for next year as it`s almost 6ft tall now and 3/4 of the way up my window. Too tall for that spot. This was it exactly 2 months ago.



Anyway, I digress. The flowerheads are beginning to open up now and a month ago, I`d have bet my life the flowers would be blue
Any care to have another go?

 

Looks like Sidalcea William Smith. That is about the tallest of the variants of S. malvifolia