Comfrey or what?

I have never ever grown Comfrey. I don't believe I have ever seen Comfrey. I bought some Comfrey seed from Amazon, sowed it and this is what came up. Is it Comfrey or just quality grass (the lawn kind)?

 

Its not comfrey

 

Looks like a grass. I believe the most popular comfrey species in Britain are officinale (Common, the one I grow) and uplandicum (Russian and apparently the best for making a liquid feed). I just grow mine because it seems to attract the greatest diversity of bees to my garden, haven't compared it to the Russian type in that respect.

Nick

 

I think the one that is used for making comfrey liquid feed is a sterile plant which means you dont get seedlings coming up all over the place.

 

That is what I thought. The site is no longer on Amazon.

 

Yes it's this one, a cultivar of uplandicum. I don't actually get much self-seeding with officinale, it just slightly spreads out into the lawn next to the border it's in, a bit irritating but no disaster. Not sure if uplandicum typically spreads further.

Nick

Symphytum × uplandicum &s;Bocking 14&s; | Herbaceous Perennial/RHS Gardening

 

Bocking No.14 is the sterile variety. I grow that and both the yellow-flowered thuggy one (tuberosum) and the better-behaved Symphytum grandiflorum variegatum. The yellow-flowered one is to be avoided unless you've got a couple of acres you don't know what to do with!

 

This one, Hazel? Never come across it before, really pretty! I love the combination of very pale blue flowers and variegated foliage!

Symphytum grandiflorum 'Hidcote Variegated'

Nick

 

That's the baby Just the opposite to the thuggy one, it needs coddling.