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The Oz Garden Gallery

Can anyone id?

9 years ago

The flower is a shade out of focus but the foliage is ok. I spotted this smallish bush (about half a metre tall) growing just beyond a picket fence in the front garden of an ancient overgrown old mansion during a stroll around what I'd describe as the old residential area of Murwillumbah about 6 months ago. The house could even have been haunted, it was one of those big old country brick and weatherboard places in need of a lot of attention. The striking blue flower caught my eye so, as is perhaps too often my way, I snitched a few cuttings. The cuttings took ok and are now flowering on a plant about half the size of the one I 'souvenired' it from. The deep blue flowers (deeper than it appears in the picture) appear to progress up the longish stem - the whole stem doesn't flower all at once. Anyone any idea of the name of the plant?

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Comments (4)

tropicbreezent
9 years ago
That is a weed, common name Snake Weed, Stachytarpheta sp. There lots of species with a bit of variation in flower colour and size of plant. But the common thing is they are very invasive. I have them on my place and they're near to impossible to get rid of. When I go walking through the bush near my place they're everywhere (closer to creeks/waterlines). They're spread very fast by water. The leaves are glossy enough to make herbicides tend to run off. You need to have a surfactant in the herbicide. They flower and seed continuously all year if they get sufficient water. And they're extremely drought tolerant. The "perfect" weed. A 'haunted house'? A fitting place for a nightmare plant.
funnelweb
Original Author
9 years ago
Right, well, thanks for that, Tropi. Mind you it doesn't look like a weed, and so far it hasn't germinated anywhere so all I have to do is pull up my rooted cuttings. From what you say it might be wise to burn 'em. Anyway, I'll check it out further with a 'Google'.
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It's a bit late in its lifespan to attempt to train into a tree-like form :-) But you should be able to get something very close to the lower photo. Ideally, the best time to prune these is after harvest but if you have only the single flower and no sign of any fruit development, you can do it now. I would work on the removal of the thin/scrawny lower stems to clean up the base and then some heading cuts on the upper stems to reduce size and encourage new leaf growth. Don't remove any more than a 1/4 to 1/3 of the canopy. Keep well watered and it should respond with new growth. You can access more detailed pruning instructions online by searching under the botanical name.
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funnelweb
Original Author
9 years ago
Just a follow-up. I Googled it up Tropic and yeah, although it appears Qld has not officially declared it a threatening weed of pastures, there is picture of a paddock completed engulfed in it. As it's prevalence is in the tropics, I guess it wouldn't get much further south than here. First thing in the morning, I'll go pull it all out. Fortunately it's a goodly distance from my fence lines so I doubt any seeds have escaped. Thanks again Tropic.
B.
tropicbreezent
9 years ago
They were brought to Australia (and probably elsewhere) as ornamentals. But you don't see them grown as ornamentals anywhere anymore, not here anyway. Plants I pull up I burn to make sure any seed don't escape.

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