Can you tell me what these plants are?

[Brisen]

I'm in zone 4, in eastern Ontario. I have some plants that were here last summer & this summer and I don't know what they are. One flower is growing under shade (cedar, walnut, and oak trees around) on a raised area that I think was made to be a shade garden. The plants grow up to about 3 to 4 feet tall, the leaves are a lot like coneflower leaves except they aren't glossy, they're kind of fuzzy. It's a mass of stems that end if leaves, instead of one main stem with leaves coming off of it. The tallest stems have little bunches of flowers that hang down. They are light purple bells, maybe 1/2" across and 1" long. They bloomed in June; when we moved here last July, I don't remember seeing any flowers on them, but I don't think I checked them right away.

The other ones were in the flower beds at the front, in full sun. The leaves also come out of the ground in a mass instead of off the stem, but they are kind of oblong, shaped more like (small) swiss chard leaves. Right now, they are probably 12-18". The flowers are kind of like flat carnations or something. It's a bunch of petals that grow together and overlap, but make a pretty flat flower. They are bright orange.

Neighbours walking by have been able to tell me what the other flowers here were, but I haven't had any luck finding out what these are yet. Anyone know?

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

I can't tell from the description. Pictures might help.

[Brisen]

Yeah, I thought it would probably be not too useful to post without pics, but I was out there today and the curiosity was getting to me. I'll try and snap some pics in the morning.

[tayndrewsmama]

Subbing to see the pics.

[AnnieinBC]

Hopefully you can get some pics up soon....I will come back to see what they look like.

Annie

[Brisen]

OK, hopefully this will work... I just signed up for flickr and I'm not completely sure of what I'm doing.

Here is the first plant I mentioned; this is a close up of the flowers; this is another.

This is the orange flower.

I took pics of two other plants I'm wondering about, but I really don't know if even a pic will be enough to identify them.

This plant keeps showing up all over our yard. I try to let it grow tall enough to bloom, but dh keeps cutting them down with the weed eater. Since this one was in a window well, it has managed to survive. I did pull up a few that were in my garden, and they break off very easily & the stems seem quite "juicy." I dug down 2" or so to try and find the root, but it was all stem and broke off while I was digging. This is a closer pic of the buds.

This viney, climby plant came up in our flower bed. There is some clover growing in it; I tried to get it all out but I gave up. The pic isn't great; I had a toddler with me heading for the sidewalk. I'm trying to figure out if I should just pull it out, or transplant it so that I can have it growing somewhere. I like ivy-type plants, and this one seems to be doing OK despite my lack of attention to it. But I'm wondering if it's some horrible invasive plant and I'll regret moving it. It also seems to be spreading along the ground instead of climbing, but it is growing up against smooth siding, so maybe it just can't go up, I'm not sure.

[Buzzer Beater]

The orange plant looks like it could be a calendula. Was it perennial or self seeded from last year? The vine is a morning glory, or what we call bindweed here. It is a nasty invasive and will interfere with your garden.

Does the top plant look like borage to anyone?

[AnnieinBC]

I agree with Buzzer Beater....the orange one looks like a calendula, another name for it is pot marigold. The plant with the pods on it, I have no clue what it is.

But the top plant....it looks like the comfrey plant I have in my yard? I will see if I can find a pic, so you can compare.

That morning glory stuff is invasive, I have grown the Annual kind, they are not as bad, as long as they aren't allowed to go to seed. But the perennial kind, which yours looks like, can be awful to get rid of, once it gets ahold in your garden.

Annie

[Kritto]

Originally Posted by Buzzer Beater

The orange plant looks like it could be a calendula. Was it perennial or self seeded from last year? The vine is a morning glory, or what we call bindweed here. It is a nasty invasive and will interfere with your garden.

Does the top plant look like borage to anyone?

I agree with everything Buzzer Beater said. I don't know what the third plant is, but the others look like Borage, Calendula, and some form of morning glory (probably bindweed).

[AnnieinBC]

If this picture shows up, it is of comfrey...it has pinky flowers...


http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...centralweb.jpg

edited to add....still not showing up properly....go to www.comfreycentral.com if you want to see the pic. I always have a hard time putting pictures up on the web!

[Brisen]

I thought it wasn't calendula, but I was wrong -- I googled again and found some pics with leaves that look like these, and the flowers look more like these ones.

I think comfrey is right for the first plant, those little bell flowers are the same.

I don't know how invasive morning glory is where I am; I don't hear people complaining about it, anyway. Before I dig it up, I'm going to google around a bit. It looks like it's more on the west coast that people have problems with it? If something actually comes up, I hate to get rid of it. I'm all for low-maintenance plants.

Thanks very much, it's a big help!

[calendula]

The pic of the plant with the purple bell flowers is comfrey. Congrats, it's an awesome plant!

[Owen'nZoe]

I am so excited that you asked this - my next door neighbor asked me to identify a plant that looks exactly like your first plant, and I didn't know what it was. I'm thrilled that I can go back and let her know what it really is! Also, I've always wanted to grow comfrey as a soil conditioner, but didn't realize it was so pretty. Bonus!

[Brisen]

So, my last mystery plant finally has some flowers open... maybe that will help someone identify it?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3984824...n/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/3984824...n/photostream/

Sorry, the pics are sideways; I'm not sure how to/if I can rotate them in flickr.

Also, since the plant is growing down in a window well, there wasn't much light so the flash went, so the colour is probably off.

[rubyeta]

It looks like some sort of Orchid to me! beautiful!

[Brisen]

It never would have occurred to me to think of orchids. I had no idea that they grew wild here, but apparently there are some orchids that do. Thanks very much!