Posted: Fri Aug 19, 05 8:17 pm Post subject: Lilac?
I've tried Googling etc but ended up trying here. There's a plant growing all over where I live, it's a wild weed, seems to thrive on any kind of surface. It has tiny purple flowers with orange hearts which are arranged in a kind of cone. Someone told me it's lilac, but she wasn't sure. It's everywhere so I was wondering if I could use it for anything in particular. And of course, I need to know first what it is. Sorry for lack of pic!
Hi Nettie, thanks for trying but that doesn't look like it, no. It looks most like a pale purple version of horse chestnut flowers, in the conical formation, but they droop down rather than up like the horse chestnut tree. Will have another google and see if I can't find some picture that's *like* it.
Treacodactyl Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 25795 Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism
Posted: Fri Aug 19, 05 8:58 pm Post subject:
Is it a tree, shrub, bush or plant? How tall and what do the leaves look like? Lilac is a shrubby tree that likes limey soil and flowers in the Spring.
It's a weed in that it grows *anywhere* to really big sizes. I've seen it growing out of walls, growing upright from the ground, growing from cracks in the concrete. It can grow to the size of a tree but I think it's really a big bush. It flowers even when it's just a small plant too, ie one stem coming from a crack in the path.
Sorry to post a question and then be so unhelpful with details!
Have you smelled it? You can usually smell it from metres away and it reminds me of Sunday tea brown bread and honey (technically speaking it only smells of honey, but I personally equate it with the brown bread as well ).
Actually that pic I posted isn't perfect but have a hunt on Google and see if it matches; there'll be a lot of the darker ones - Black Knight for example - that are popular in gardens, but the pale lilac one fits the description of growing like a weed; a nice weed though, and very popular with bees and butterflies. I do love it - we have several in our garden
Have you smelled it? You can usually smell it from metres away and it reminds me of Sunday tea brown bread and honey (technically speaking it only smells of honey, but I personally equate it with the brown bread as well ).
That's it
Thanks Bugs (and all the rest of you! ) ye are stars.
Have you smelled it? You can usually smell it from metres away and it reminds me of Sunday tea brown bread and honey (technically speaking it only smells of honey, but I personally equate it with the brown bread as well ).
Really? It smells like cat's wee to me. But then again, I like wisteria, while other people have said that smells like cat's wee too.
Oh I love the smell of it too! When you said 'Sunday tea and brown bread with honey' I knew you had the right plant straight away, without even looking at the pic.
Really? It smells like cat's wee to me. But then again, I like wisteria, while other people have said that smells like cat's wee too.
I mean the buddleia, not the lilac! Although, I do like the smell of lilac but agree it can be a bit potent if you bring it in; and different ones seem to smell different. I do like the smell of wisteria as well though.