Mystery plant

[ChrisB]

Hi Lesley,

Julia Cordon thought it might be a teucrium, then Ron later, without knowing what Julia had said, thought also it might be that species.  Here are two more pics of the plant in situ.  Ignore the pink, they are spent diascia flowers.  The plant does not have many flowers, at least not this year.  And most teucriums seem to have foliage with some sort of toothed edges, whereas this plant does not.  That, of course, does not rule out its being a teucrium, but I'm still not convinced.  Anyway, here is the plant habit:

[Lesley Cox]

Flowers, when they come, should help. In the meantime, pinch the foliage and report on the scent. I'd bet there will be one.

[Maggi Young]

Flowers are on first post, page one of the thread....
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=7806.msg212634#msg212634

[ChrisB]

Yes, Lesley, there is some aroma, but its very mild and I cannot describe it at all.  Nothing like salvia, that's for sure, and really not much like the other teuchrium I have in my garden either.  I'll take note of the scent of my other stachys tomorrow and see if it smells like those at all.

[Lesley Cox]

Flowers are on first post, page one of the thread....
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=7806.msg212634#msg212634

Yes, but not conclusive. Flowers on the whole plant, in the garden instead of picked, may be better.

Unfortunately salvias and teucriums both have a wide variety of scents. S. microphylla is like meat paste for instance while S. confertiflora has to my mind, a horrid oily smell and there are many others. The foliage of Teucrium ackermannii is deliciously perfumed while the flowers smell like sewage. So if you can work out what the smell is like it could be helpful.

I can't believe that this plant will be the one that finally beats the combined knowledge and experience of the Forumists.

[ChrisB]

Our AGS meeting is tonight, so I'm going to take along another sprig to see if anyone there can help us.

[ChrisB]

John Richards says it is a stachys from Spain, and he's seen it growing there.  He thinks he has a book that will verify its full name.

[Lesley Cox]

Well that's excellent news Chris. Nothing like going to the top for best information.

[Brian Ellis]

Hoorah, excellent detective work!

[Maggi Young]

Thank goodness for "Jock"..... if Christine had had to take many more bits off the plant in the hope of an ID there would have been nothing left of it!

[ChrisB]

Maggi, the worst part is, that a 12ft high tree stump up which I have growing two wisterias for 15 + years snapped in the gales and fell on top of this plant.  I think it has survived, but only just and goodness knows what I've lost under the pile.  Wind is finally dying down a bit now, so we'll get out to assess the damage and figure out what we can do.  I think we'll have no wisteria for a while for sure.  Whether we have to cut it to the ground I'm not sure yet.  The tree stump was about 15 inches in diameter, so its very heavy....

[ChrisB]

And here is my disaster.  Such a shame.  We are still assessing what we can do about it....

[Lina Hesseling]

Christine, I can imagine how sad you are about this disaster. The Wisteria's don't look broken. Maybe you can rescue them. I hope so!

[Brian Ellis]

Sorry to see that Chris, the trouble with wind when the climbers/trees are in full leaf is that it can be as devastating in the garden as this.  Such a shame

[Maggi Young]

I too think that the wisteria looks in pretty good order.... a careful extraction of the tree from the middle of the tangle and a re-erection of the wisteria on a new support..... metal wigwam.... large and sturdy? Big job,  no doubt, but just about possible, tackled steadily. I suspect that any fatalities under the fallen mass are goners so it perhaps matter less if you take  rather a while to extract the tree from the wisteria at your own pace....     Hope I'm right!