What are these flowers?
June 11, 2014 8:01 PM   Subscribe

I have a bunch of flowers in my yard. Pic 1. Pic 2. What are they? I am particularly interested in the blue one, but there are an awful lot of flowers.
posted by amber_dale to Home & Garden (19 answers total)
 
Picture 2:
second from left, top row: Strelitzia Regina, common name Bird of Paradise
Second from right, fourth row: Nigella, common name love-in-a-mist.
Second from left, bottom row: Felis Catus, common name cat. Not actually a flower.
posted by girlgenius at 8:17 PM on June 11, 2014 [7 favorites]


Wow, no kidding. Second from the left on the top row of pic 2 is a bird of paradise/strelitzia. Leftmost in the third row look like daylilies. Rightmost in the fourth row look like morning glories. And that's all the easy ones, except you have a bunch of roses -- I don't know the varieties.
posted by clavicle at 8:19 PM on June 11, 2014


That's a lot of pictures to identify. I suggest you get a perennial catalog for your area, I see some roses in the first set, the 2nd set, top row, 2nd from left is a bird of paradise, as mentioned.

The blue looks to be sage (salvia officinalis). Pinch off one of the leaves and smell it. Does it smell like poultry seasoning? If yes, it's sage. You can pick the leaves and use them sparingly in cooking, or fry them as an appetizer. Super tasty!

Also consider checking out some plant books from the public library.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 8:21 PM on June 11, 2014


Pic 2: Top Left is abutilon, aka chinese lanterns
The whole second row looks to be varieties of sedum.
4th row, first pic is a hydrangea. Next to that is another abutilon.
5th row center are two varieties of Lavender, the one on the left is, I think, Spanish Lavender.
The one underneath that is a cat.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 8:29 PM on June 11, 2014 [1 favorite]


Pic 2, 5th row, leftmost is a geranium
3rd row, rightmost, another abutilon

1st pic bottom row, leftmost and rightmost are California Poppies
Second from left in that row is abutilon
3rd row, first pic is a penstemon, next to that is a California Poppy, rarer pink variety
5th row, second pic is I think lipstick sage, then a hollyhock, and the last pic is a tuberous begonia
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 8:36 PM on June 11, 2014


The blue one is probably some variety of sage, (salvia something) may not be culinary though, there are decorative ones.

Pic 1 Top row: 1 hibiscus: 2 looks like a Australian native whose name escapes me, you're not in Australia are you?; 3 this is an old fashioned single rose I think?; 4 some kind of wax flower

2nd row: 1 =rose; 2=rock rose cistus albius; 3=?; 4= the rose-shaped succulent is a house leek (Sempervivum), the little pink flowered creeper is pig-face

3rd row: 1=?; 2=?; 3=looks like a South African daisy 4= "single" rose

4th row: 1 looks like some sort of grevillea. You sure you're not in Oz?; LOL 2=Rock rose (not really a rose) 3= actual rose; 4= rose

5th row:1=?; 2= pineapple sage; 3=?; 4=?

6th row: 1=? 2=Chinese lantern (abutila?) 3=poppy or ranunculus? 4=?
posted by Coaticass at 8:48 PM on June 11, 2014


Pic 1:
top row, leftmost is another 'biokovo' true geranium I believe
top row, 2nd from the right may be Japanese Anemone
posted by emilyanemone at 8:52 PM on June 11, 2014


Or as above, P1 R1:1 could more likely be a geranium, I may've overestimated its size.
posted by Coaticass at 8:54 PM on June 11, 2014


Pic 2:

1st row: 1= chinese lantern?; 2=Bird of Paradise; 3= Watsonia; 4=?

2nd row: 1-4 ? look under succulent/cactus/ground cover

3rd row: 1=Clivia; 2= Lemon tree; 3=? (need to see leaves too?) 4=?

4th row: 1=flowers look a bit like hydrangea but the three-lobed leaves are all wrong so ?
2=Chinese lantern; 3=Love in a mist (Nigella something); 4=?

5th row: 1=hard to say without any idea of scale, geranium? hibiscus? 2=French lavender; 3=Lavender (might be lavendula officianalis but there are loads of different ones) 4=?

6th row: 1=? looks australian so its probably south african. Or, I have no idea; 2= I used to have one of these in my garden, I really miss him; 3= Love in a Mist; 4= Love in a mist.
posted by Coaticass at 9:09 PM on June 11, 2014


Okay, Pic 2 R4:1 is an oak-leaf hydrangea.
posted by Coaticass at 9:22 PM on June 11, 2014


Another correction: the plant in Pic 1 R2:4 I know as pigface (that's what my mother used to call it, but apparently that's a different plant) is more properly known as knotweed or persicaria capitata?
posted by Coaticass at 9:27 PM on June 11, 2014


...Regarding which I'm also getting it under a different botanical name polygonum capitatum, colour me confused.
posted by Coaticass at 9:33 PM on June 11, 2014


Where are you? That would help, because knowing what grows/doesn't grow readily in your area would be helpful.
posted by missmary6 at 9:50 PM on June 11, 2014


Best answer: Hhm, well I wish your photos were bigger and had more leaves to show scale, but here's what I see (and most of these are agreeing with stuff posted above):

Pic 1:
Geranium "biokovo"
Coleonema pulchellum
Romneya coulteri
Leptospermum? Is this a shrub or herbacious plant?

rosa
rosa
Spirea
Polygonatum capitatum

too tiny
cal poppy "rose chiffon"
Arctotis
rosa

Grevillea ssp.
rosa ssp.
rosa ssp.
rosa ssp.

too tiny
salvia
??
Begonia ssp.

cal poppy
Abutilon ssp.
??
cal poppy

pic 2:

abutilon
strelitzia
crocosmia
pimpernel (weedy)

sedum
sedum
sedum
sedum

alstroemeria
lemon
probably heuchera, need to see the plant
salvia hybrid

hydrangea
abutilon
nigella
ceratostigma

geranium "biokovo"
???
Salvia leucantha
Salvia

too small
cat
nigella
nigella
posted by oneirodynia at 9:56 PM on June 11, 2014 [4 favorites]


If you post larger pictures individually, I could identify the rest, most likely. My computer is small, and your pics are tiny.
posted by oneirodynia at 9:57 PM on June 11, 2014 [1 favorite]


Oh, and oops, between Biokovo" and Salvia leucantha is Lavender stoechas.
posted by oneirodynia at 9:59 PM on June 11, 2014 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: This is in Northern California. My cat Snape snuck in there, like he does.
posted by amber_dale at 10:03 PM on June 11, 2014 [2 favorites]


Pic 1:
Row 1, pic 3 looks like cosmos to me rather than California tree poppy, but you should be able to work it out by looking at the leaves and comparing with pics on the internet.
Row 1, pic 4 looks like Geraldton wax to me (which is, indeed, a leptospermum)
Row 5, pic 3 looks like a pelargonium to me, see first flower pic

I think others have already identified the other things I know. But yes, bigger pics that include some foliage as well as flowers are always handy.
posted by Athanassiel at 10:41 PM on June 11, 2014


I don't think pic 2, row 3, image 1 is an alstroemeria; it's leaves look too spiky. Instead, it looks to me like what we'd just call a lily here in the PNW, but I think they're actually called day lily. They grow wild here, but a lot of people have/plant them in their yards.

Same pic, row 1, pic 3 looks like it might be the same kind - it's blurry and hard to tell, but the shape of the flower and the leaves are right, and so is the color.

Pic 1, bottom left and right are definitely California poppies. They grow wild everywhere here (OR/WA border, smack dab in the middle of the Columbia River Gorge.) Their exact color and edge of petal shape tends to vary, even among a big group of them, and I don't know why. All the pics I've seen of where they grow in California seems to show the orange ones, but here they usually range from yellow to orange, sometimes with both on the same flower. There are also random white, cream, and very pale yellows that appear, usually just one plant in the midst of dozens or hundreds of regular ones. (I've spent WAY too many hours hunting for the unusual ones to photograph...)
posted by stormyteal at 9:40 AM on June 12, 2014


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