Colinp's Outbox

Looks like a young evening primrose - will flower next year as they are biennials - seeds everywhere but what other plant can you actually watch opening its flowers?

I found your question whilst searching for information about why my M.stellata has just decided to die. Mine is (was?) over 20 years old, growing in semishade in a fairly good, slightly alkaline, loam. It flowered well, as usual, this year - a bit of frost damage to the flowers but nothing untoward - then in early June it started to look sickly and now looks on its last legs. I suspect drought - we're on the NW coast and the spring was very dry - no real rain for six weeks. It apparently comes from a boggy area of Honshu so probably doesn't like drying out. Whether it will come back now it has started to rain in earnest? I've mulched it with garden compost. If it looks like recovering I'll post another message. We also have lost a Cornus capitata which often got drought stressed so lack of water must be a prime suspect.