Maltese cross or a clever fake?!
June 6, 2020 1:03 PM Subscribe
Please help me ID these plants?
Here are the plants in question: imgur post
I live in zone 4, and these are growing in partial full sun, partial dappled shade. It doesn’t seem to be very invasive— I bought three plants originally at a big Mother’s Day sale in 2019 (everything else o bought there was properly labeled) and planted them last year, and there are still only three plants so far this year.
When I bought them they were labeled as Maltese cross or Lychnis chalcedonica. When I do image searches for that or look in my plant books, the foliage on mine doesn’t look quite right. Do I just need to be patient and let them get a little taller, or is this very obviously some other type of plant? The fact that one is sharp and spiny strikes me as odd? Mostly I just want to know what the heck it is. Please help!
Here are the plants in question: imgur post
I live in zone 4, and these are growing in partial full sun, partial dappled shade. It doesn’t seem to be very invasive— I bought three plants originally at a big Mother’s Day sale in 2019 (everything else o bought there was properly labeled) and planted them last year, and there are still only three plants so far this year.
When I bought them they were labeled as Maltese cross or Lychnis chalcedonica. When I do image searches for that or look in my plant books, the foliage on mine doesn’t look quite right. Do I just need to be patient and let them get a little taller, or is this very obviously some other type of plant? The fact that one is sharp and spiny strikes me as odd? Mostly I just want to know what the heck it is. Please help!
Did they flower last year? What did they look like? I have plenty of what is definitely Maltese Cross in my garden, and none of what you have there looks like Maltese Cross. Not only are the leaves not the right shape, but when your plant flowered you'd see very tall stems with a big cluster of tiny red cross-shaped blossoms on top.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 1:54 PM on June 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 1:54 PM on June 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
Sea Holly? Or maybe a type of acanthus - Spiny Bear's Breeches?
posted by Martha My Dear Prudence at 3:14 PM on June 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Martha My Dear Prudence at 3:14 PM on June 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
It doesn't look like Maltese Cross to me. This is a photo of my Maltese Cross which I took just this morning. At this time of year I'd expect yours to be in flower if it is actually a Maltese Cross.
posted by essexjan at 3:25 PM on June 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by essexjan at 3:25 PM on June 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
I'm in Zone 3/4, and our well-established maltese cross are definitely not yet flowering.
That said, my partner (pro gardener in naturalist services)'s best guess was either sea holly or some kind of hollyhock.
posted by wreckingball at 3:39 PM on June 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
That said, my partner (pro gardener in naturalist services)'s best guess was either sea holly or some kind of hollyhock.
posted by wreckingball at 3:39 PM on June 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Definitely sea holly, thank you all! Sciencegeek was the quickest, and I really appreciate all the links. I'm a little sad it's not the Maltese Cross, especially since I have a bunch of blue/purple flowers already established in the yard, but sea holly looks pretty and interesting, too.
Also extraspecial thanks to Martha for bringing Spiny Bear's Breeches into my world, which led to an extended dinner convo about what types of bears wear breeches (and are the bears spiny, or are the breeches?). Fingers crossed that's what the spiny will turn out to be!
posted by pepper bird at 4:32 PM on June 6, 2020 [3 favorites]
Also extraspecial thanks to Martha for bringing Spiny Bear's Breeches into my world, which led to an extended dinner convo about what types of bears wear breeches (and are the bears spiny, or are the breeches?). Fingers crossed that's what the spiny will turn out to be!
posted by pepper bird at 4:32 PM on June 6, 2020 [3 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by fancyoats at 1:36 PM on June 6, 2020 [1 favorite]