Seen on beechgrove but I don't know??

Hi everyone new to the forum so hope this gets through as I don't really know my way around yet. I have had this plant from seeds a friend gave me last year. It grows prolifically and is beautiful but she didn't know where it came from or its name and I haven't seen it anywhere else till this week when it was on Beechgrove garden. It was at Glenbervie House just before entry to the greenhouse. I contacted beechgrove but dissapointingly they did not reply. So can anyone help me here?

thankyou and hello

Cheryl

 

Looks like Nicandra physaloides. Common name shoo-fly.

Nicandra physalodes - Google Search

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicandra_physaloides

 

Thankyou. Yes it is. Not happy hearing it is considered a weed!!

 

I asked the same question a couple of years ago. One will become several by next year.. I know I mine did, they are quite welcome. How they got here I will never know.

 

Birdseed

Hi Hans
I googled it and apparently it is in bird seed. That would definately explain how my friend got hers. I have saved seed anyway as it is quite lovely and interesting and may get 20p at car boot next year so can get a little something for the garden.

cheryl :o

 

A weed somewhere is a beautiful flower somewhere else :thumb:

 

Hi Cheryl - and welcome to the forum.

I don't regard it as a weed. Its a wonderful plant. The flower buds are gorgeous in their own right, the flowers are lovely, and the seed heads are nice too.

As you may have gathered, its an annual. It does seed around quite a bit, and we have had several inquiries about identifying it. I always gather seed and sow some each year, though I do come across self sown seedlings in the garden. I grow mine in pots as I have run out of border space. Its quite variable in size and needs a big pot. But this year mine are no much over 2 feet high. A couple of years ago I had one up to 5 feet, and I have read about them reaching 8 feet in this country.

 

Almost certainly righ Cheryl, bird seed that would explain it little critters throw it everywhere. I think the plant does the same.