Flower Power

[Maz]

I love that app by the way! When we had a lot of walks out and about and the others went on ahead sometimes, I'd take photos and use my app to identify all kinds of leaves and plants It was free at first and then one of those tricks that you had to pay if you wanted to keep using it, but it wasn't much and I thought it was worth it!

 

[Maz]

It's funny how there are "years" for certain things. There are a lot of buttercups here this year and also a lot of small blue flowers like forget me nots in the lawn (must use the app on them!). However I'm a bit cautious as last year we had masses of what looked like forgetmenots that were long and leggy with grey stems, appear all over round the edges of the garden. I had to weed some of them out and came out in a really nasty rash all up my arms and felt really ill for a couple of days. Turns out they were wood forgetmenots - the little hairy stems and burs stick to you - and they are poisonous! They actually inject something poisonous in the skin! Thankfully they've seemed to die off since mostly and the ones in the grass look like a different type, but I'm still cautious. There are definitely some at the end of the garden so they will need strimming and arms and hands covering when raking up!

The wood forgetmenots last year blew in out of nowhere and I thought - how nice - some wildflowers in the garden - but they were nasty!

 

[Member ID2]

I just screenshotted your large leaves with my plant identification app Beryl, and it just says "Common Foxglove"! So the large leaves probably belong to the Foxgloves.

I didn't mean the foxglove leaves.
I just took a photo of the ones i don't know what plant they belong to. Could be a weed of course.

 

[Member ID2]

Hmm, interesting to read about the wood forgetmenots i've never heard of. I sometimes get a rash after gardening and always shower afterwards.

 

[elusive]

I’m not sure about the leaves, might be a case of wait & see…. they do look a little a thistle I’ve got or had growing somewhere, not all thistles are spiky but I could be way off.

 

[Maz]

My app says those leaves are from Opium Poppies

 

[Maz]

Hmm, interesting to read about the wood forgetmenots i've never heard of. I sometimes get a rash after gardening and always shower afterwards.

To be honest I had never seen them before. They kind of look like forgetmenots but more woody looking stems in a kind of grey colour with sort of sticky hairy stems and burs. Looked nice and natural. This wasn't just a normal rash either - it was really bad - all over my arms and legs - it looked like some kind of poisonous thing which was why I looked up and found out they were poisonous. I also get slight rashes from gardening due to allergies etc but nothing like this before. At first I thought it must be midge bites but then all the weals came up and blood blisters! The only thing I'd done was pull out all these sticky forgetmenots. And it wasn't like midge bites. Anyway - should have had my arms and legs covered up! I don't suppose you're likely to come across them hopefully! Not very common apparently but they must have blown in from the wild somewhere.

Clearly a good defence mechanism for the plant!

 

[Maz]

Actually I think they were identified as Chinese Forgetmenots, not wood forgetmenots - can't remember.

 

[Member ID2]

My app says those leaves are from Opium Poppies

What!? Opium Poppies! I don't live in that sort of neighbourhood.

 

[Member ID2]

Wow, no, the rash i get is more like a slight irritation and nothing like the rash you had from the forgetmenots. How long did it last? That's one vicious plant.

 

[elusive]

The big poppies are out. My neighbour has a deep red one and here's an orange one in our garden.

View attachment 2769

I think this is an opium poppy Beryl!

 

[elusive]

That rash does look really nasty Maz! I’ve never heard of Chinese forgetmenots.

 

[Member ID2]

I think this is an opium poppy Beryl!

Oh i see. Thank you elusive for clarifying that one.

 

[elusive]

Another nice little flower that thrives on total neglect, some Campanula growing around my steps, it’s been here longer than I have & I don’t have to do anything.

 

[Maz]

Campanula is lovely There's lots growing wild round here.

Beryl I think Opium Poppy is just the name for Poppy probably. All poppies can produce opium I think. But it did make me laugh that you thought it might be seen as sinister

Yes that was very a nasty rash - it was last summer. It took almost a week to go away and made me feel like I had bad flu as well. It was also very painful. I suppose the equivalent to landing in a bed of stinging nettles perhaps.

 

[Frida]

What!? Opium Poppies! I don't live in that sort of neighbourhood.

So that's how you afford to keep so many hamsters...

 

[elusive]

There are lots of different poppy species Maz, only the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, produces opium, be a bit of a problem is they all did! But the opium poppy is probably the most commonly grown poppy in UK gardens.

 

[Maz]

So is the opium poppy the original wild poppy?

 

[Maz]

That rash does look really nasty Maz! I’ve never heard of Chinese forgetmenots.

Neither had I till I looked them up trying to identify them. There isn't a lot of information out there but they're not the kind of thing you normally grow and a very invasive weed. Which was why I was pulling handfuls of them out. They stopped looking cute and started taking over. I am very suspicious of forgetmenots now but they did have distinctive grey stick stems and foliage with burs on. Which means they probably got here via an animal with the burs stuck to it. Maybe I need to blame rabbits again!

 

[elusive]

So is the opium poppy the original wild poppy?

It is or at least a cultivated form of it, I’m not sure the original wild one comes in all the multicolours you can get now.