Honeysong Purple

Is this a Stokesia? I used to have a pale blue S. laevis. such a lovely plant and well behaved.

What a beautiful colour.

Hi Eileen. Yes this is a Stokesia. I just prefer the name 'Honeysong Purple'. You certainly know your plants. The pale blue sounds nice.

Thanks Julia - I'm really enjoying it. The flowers are ginormous with a long bloom period. It pays to do your supermarket shopping early. They had a dozen when I went in, nothing when I came out. I never saw them again.

Hi Paul, I'm surprised you can buy any plants worth buying from your supermarket. My experience is that all too often they are so badly neglected they are a waste ofmoney as they rarely thrive. You need to buy them almost the moment they are unloaded, or forget it.

Yes for sure. They go downhill very quickly once unloaded. I hate nursing sick plants - often a waste of money and time as you say.

There's can be a certain pleasure in buying price reduced ones that look poorly and nursing them back to health though. In my teens I collected cacti and got many of mine that way, or by picking up bits that fell off in the shop and planting them up as cuttings... Can't afford to proud or picky if you're an impecunious teen
lol...

I guess it depends if you like plants for their own sake or as components for making fantastic garden displays (which I'm no good at...)

Steragram; I agree about nursing plants back to health, but I draw the line at giving such as the supermarkets money for plants they can't be bothered to look after.
I've also collected bits of cacti which have fallen off...but that's different.

Depends how far gone the plants are. Sometimes they just need a good soaking. Anything more, not for me.

Love the colour, it’s really quite something!

my hydrangea Annabelle cost 50p and was a 10" twig with a dead leaf. I did scrape the bark with my thumbnail and it was green. It is huge now and flowering very well.
So I do look at 'casualty corner' in the gc as often they are just plants that need a good drink or have finished for that season. I have had amazing bulbs over the years as a result.

Thanks Kate. I'm still smitten with this. Never seen anything like it.

That's very true Eileen. A little TLC can make all the difference.