what flowers are these please?

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Tony bought them at the local nursery, but didn't keep the label.

And how come the pretty one on the right has different coloured flowers, pink and purple, on the same plant? How odd.

[hypercharleyfarley Profile]

verbena of some sort - I don't know why there are two colours on the one plant, but it could be that as the flowers age they change colour as they begin to fade. Could it in fact be two plants, or can you clearly see flower stems of two colours both coming from the same main stem?

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Good morning, Hypercharleyfarley

And well done you. It looks as though they are verbena "tuscany" (with white eye).
Thank you so much, I'm not very good at flower names.
My painting partner, whom I share a studio with, is excellent however, as she used to run a flower shop in Putney.


And yes, definitely. The two colours stem into exactly the same root.

[Tatihou Profile]

Verbena. I love them - and they strike very readily from cuttings and can be overwintered successfully in a cold frame - providing the winter weather doesn't freeze too low.

Keep dead-heading and feed with a tomato fertiliser and they flower most of the summer.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I supect your pied one is either

actually two plants, grown from seeds that were touching and so the roots have fused

Or
two cuttings that fused when first rooted in a liquid medium, so one grafted onto the other instead fo developing a separate root system

[juliana50 Profile]

I supect your pied one is either

actually two plants, grown from seeds that were touching and so the roots have fused

Or
two cuttings that fused when first rooted in a liquid medium, so one grafted onto the other instead fo developing a separate root system

So presumably this could be done deliberately, by an expert, do you think? Those colours are so pretty together.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I supect your pied one is either

actually two plants, grown from seeds that were touching and so the roots have fused

Or
two cuttings that fused when first rooted in a liquid medium, so one grafted onto the other instead fo developing a separate root system

So presumably this could be done deliberately, by an expert, do you think? Those colours are so pretty together.

Not tried with verbena but it is not difficult to graft cuttings of some shrubs together so that for example you get a tree with 3 varieties of apple or different rose flowers on it

I suspect that as verbena grows well from cuttings you could graft it and fuse the cuttings deliberately, but I can't see why you'd bother since you could just plant them close together to get much the same effect

[Joanbunting Profile]

Verbenas do really well in my garden pots and those are what they are Gill.

Sue I recall a Japanese cherry tree that grew outside my parent's apartment. The flowers at the top were pink, then lower down they were white and even lower down a deep pink all the result, so Dad said of careless grafting. I thought they were wonderful.

[Mamta Profile]

I don't know why there are two colours on the one plant, but it could be that as the flowers age they change colour as they begin to fade.

This is interesting. I was dead-heading antirrhinum flowers in my beds yesterday, bought from B & Q, and many plants had 2 different colour flowers. Same plants, two different branches! I might take a picture later on, if the rain stops.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

I'd like to see that Mamta.

Keep dead-heading and feed with a tomato fertiliser and they flower most of the summer.

Will do. Thank you for the sound advice.

Hi Sue.
That makes sense. I've got another one in the next tray/pot that has pink and yellow coming up.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

I've just talked to the neighbour who has an allotment.
He says it's difficult to tell exactly.

But it could also be trace element in the soil that affects part of the plant differently to another, say iron.
Or if a plant or tree is routed in the ground near a rusty nail, for want of an example. You can see different colours in the flowerings.

Seems to make sense too.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I've just talked to the neighbour who has an allotment.
He says it's difficult to tell exactly.

But it could also be trace element in the soil that affects part of the plant differently to another, say iron.
Or if a plant or tree is routed in the ground near a rusty nail, for want of an example. You can see different colours in the flowerings.

Seems to make sense too.

Thatt's entirely possible but it seems to me a bit unlikely with a small plant bedded in compost -you see this most often with hydrangeas and they usually shade beautifully from one side of the bush to the other, rather than being stikingly different tints; the sharp contrast suggests genetics to me.