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It's about knowing the right people to ask.

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About a year ago a local HPS group help a lecture day open to anyone in the HPS and their guests. I had responsibility for the members plant table and I only bought one plant. It was labelled as Trandescantia [fully hardy ground cover]. Intrigued I bought one but kept it in the greenhouse and it did indeed come through the winter. It was put in a large pot outside and it has flowered all summer with a lovely pale blue flower.

Now I like to know what things really are so I have looked in all my books and I cant find a match for this plant.
It has the growth habit of the indoor ‘tradescantia’, though many are in fact in different genera but could not find a match.

The foliage clasps the stem, has a similar growth pattern and has the speckled markings of the houseplant.

Last night I was at our local HPS meeting when one of the ladies brought 2 pots of this to sell. I man the plant table for my sins. This time I was determined to ask our many knowledgeable members. The first 6 I asked said Tradescantia?

Then John Grimshaw [from the Yorkshire arboretum] and Alistair Gunn [head gardener at Castle Howard] took their seats. They are both very down to earth and have been members of our East Yorkshire group for a little while now. So I showed them it and asked them. Both in unison said "Tinantia pringlei. Nice plant and hardy in a normal winter ". So after a brief chat about it I am ‘over the moon’ to have a proper id for this plant.

So last night I had a very good evening listening to Helen Picton from Picton nursery and Old court Gardens. She confirmed Derekm’s id of a large white aster as A umbellatus though it is now Doellingeria umbellatus

So it is wonderful to be able to ask the right people .

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Comments

 

Oh! I so agree with you! A couple of years ago, when wanting to do some re-vamping of the garden, I was lucky enough to be able to ask questions of the panel of experts attending Southport Flower Show. What a difference it made!

2 Nov, 2018

 

Thank you for sharing this with us. Like you I have an insatiable appetite for finding the correct names for plants. Well done on persevering to find out this name. I felt it was a familiar plant even though I know I have never seen it before and when I googled it there was very little about it except this:-
https://clevelandlandscapegarden.com/tropical-indianapolis/
Each step through the garden brought new discoveries. Tinantia pringlei coll. #A1M-77 (Mexican Speckled Wandering Jew, available from Plant Delights, was a groundcovering filler that I had never seen before. When happy, it spreads delightfully and the dark foliage is a great foil for lighter colored plants like the chartreuse branch of Deutzia ‘Chardonnay Pearls’.
According to Beth Chatto website the aster is a tall non spreading upright perennial. Your soil must be very much just what this one needs.

2 Nov, 2018

 

well I'd hate to argue wuth the late Beth Chatto but this does seem to like my soil and does 'run' a bit.
interesting about the Tinantia. if it produces young ones would you like one scotsgran?

waddy I so agree. I often go to RHS Harlow Carr when they have 'ask us' days.

2 Nov, 2018

 

Glad you had a reliable I’d for your plant, Eileen, and that you had the right people to ask. Even the RHS experts aren’t infallible . . . I once took a sprig of an evergreen from my garden with cream, green and pink leaves to Wisley’s information desk, but they couldn’t help! Later I found that a member of my gardening group had the same pretty shrub, and she knew it was Photinia ‘davidii’ - I was just pleased to have a name for it :)

2 Nov, 2018

 

That's brilliant Seaburn, very satisfying.

2 Nov, 2018

 

Yes please to the offer if and when the Titantia produces young ones. It will be interesting to see if it can survive outside up here. If you look in Wikipedia one of the synonyms is Tradescantia pringei. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinantia_pringlei

2 Nov, 2018

 

I am pleased for you. It's good to know the true identity of a plant because it helps with it's care.

4 Nov, 2018

 

I quite agree with you, Hywel, knowing the proper, botanical, name of a plant helps a lot. I also like to know the true names as many plants have the same name but are totally different from one another!

I also did a search for it on Wikipedia but it only has a stub of information. Nevertheless I found out that one of its "popular" names is 'Mexican Wandering Jew'!

I have a couple of the popular 'Wandering Jew' species at home. The purple & silver striped 'Tradescantia zebrina' which, strangely has never flowered for me in the 17 years I've grown it here in the UK but when I grew it in Spain it flowered every year with delightful deep pink flowers. I also have 'Tradescantia flumensis' which has dark green leaves which are a deep purple on the back. This produces lovely 3 petalled white flowers during the summer. It also self seeds as I discovered in the spring this year!

8 Nov, 2018

 

I agree with all the comments above, worth the effort, I know Picton Nursery well, our middle daughter lives in nearby Malvern, and we lived in Worcestershire for many years...

11 Nov, 2018

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