Smethhurst Mystery Plant

[ChrisB]

Hi,  The Smethhursts generously gave me a pot full of Diascia integerrima a couple of years ago.  It has stayed in that pot since then, but other things have appeared in it too.  One is some sort of onion, but the plant with the purple flowers is something I'm not familiar with.  Can anyone help me identify the plant please?  Its foliage is greyish and hairy, but you can't see that in this picture for the flowers.

[Maggi Young]

Your pretty purple interloper is Erinus alpinus, Christine.  It will seed around (though it is easily pulled out of any place you don't want it) or you can take the seed and use it to make a troulble free cheerful planting wherever you like.... it is a "staple" plant that I would hate to be without....little, flowers well, quite happy in just about any situation... a plant which really earns its place in any trough or rock garden  or even in paving stones  to cheer up hard landscaping. 

[shelagh]

You see you get more for your money with us Christine.

[ChrisB]

Thanks Maggi.  I knew it wasn't phlox or aubretia.  I've never grown it before.  Its been in flower for a long time now.

There's some sort of onion in that pot too.... I'll wait and let it bloom before deciding whether it should stay.

Yes, Sheila, thank you!  We certainly got our money's worth with that plant pot.  Its still in that pot you sent me, though I took the tape off it and popped it inside another pot.  I think I'll leave the lot there, it looks so jolly.