ID please

Can anybody tell me what this is? I grew some from seeds a year ago and overwintered OK in the greenhouse so it is hardy. I planted it yesterday and is about 18inches high. Apparently it sends up a stem with a dark purplish spike on the top. I don't know if it will flower this year.

 

Looks like the Ornamental Millet that's all the rage in garden centres at the moment. Nice plant, though an annual...but you've proved you can grow it from seed! It 'blooms' with a purple/green tall 'fluffy' flower spike a bit later in the year.

 

Thank you for solving the mystery. It is indeed an ornamental millet called Purple Majesty. It is supposed to be an annual but I have several plants which I have had for over a year grown from seed and still yet to flower. This I don't understand.

 

Oh, that is lovely! It would make a wonderful background for various plants and colours. I've made a note of it for next year.

Marley, is that it in your friend's garden? :gnthb:

 

I bought one of these a couple of years ago and it was lovely. I intended to grow more from its seed. But I never did find any seed.

Its a grass - Lintama. It will be wind pollinated so it doesn't need to produce a showy flower to attract insects. It should flower, but like other grasses the flowers will be so insignificant that you will never notice them. However I would have expected to see the seeds.

Marley, does your friend grow it fom seed - and where and when are the seeds formed?

 

Thanks Marley - I think you are saying that it will produce seed, but it is not likely to be hot enough in this country for seed. Is that right?

I never thought of that, but it would explain a lot.

 

Thanks, Marley. I've made a note and shall see if I can get it in October when we are over there next time.

 

Thanks Marley - thats has been very helpful. It has always rankled that I never could find the seeds. Knowing nothing about grasses, it never occured to me that it was not hot enough to set seed. There were glumes (or little papery bits of the flower), and I assumed that the seed would follow.

But I should have considered that cause, as I grow a number of Salvias that will flower in our summer, but won't set seed because it isn't warm enough.