what type of flower/plant is this  | |  i have just been outside to do my daily gardening and i found these 3 plants growing, i have no idea what they are but someone said that they COULD be cornflower, does anyone know what they are? there's all kinds of flowers growing out there right now that i have not planted and not seen before, so i am wondering where they are all coming from, but this particular plant is baffling me...so does anyone know? thankyou in advance.
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| | | | | | | | 1.  Wizzywig (2803) | 6 months ago | 
I'd say thats just what it is... a purple cornflower. They've appeared in my garden
I thought it looked like a cornflower so typed "cornflower purple" into the search and got
www.mooseyscountrygarden.com
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| tattylashes (4295) | 6 months ago | thankyou wizzy, i just had to have this confirmed incase my neighbour was wrong, but now i can tell her that she's right, i have no idea where they came from but they are growing everywhere right now....thankyou for the link. | |
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| | | | 2.  owlwings (5235)  | 6 months ago |  I agree that this looks like a purple cornflower. The normal colour for a wild cornflower is blue ('cornflower blue', of course!) but garden varieties come in many shades from white through red and blue to deep purple, almost black. The single varieties very often set seed which is wind borne (though not as successfully as dandelions and thistles which are also Compositae). Cornflower heads are much loved by seed eating birds such as goldfinches (in the UK) and this is perhaps their most successful way of distributing their seeds. If you buy wild bird seed then you can often find the most unusual plants growing near where the feeder was!
Another flower which is naturally purple and looks something like a cornflower is Common Knapweed. The foliage is, however, rather darker and bluer than cornflower foliage and it's a stiff, hard-stemmed plant. I have never seen a garden variety of knapweed (though I did once find a white flowered version which I tried to cultivate but with little success!)
If you want to encourage birds to your garden in the autumn, there are many seed bearing plants that they love - cornflowers, sunflowers, cardoons or globe artichokes, for example. If you can bear - or dare - to have a 'wild patch', then many kinds of thistle are very attractive to the finches!
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| tattylashes (4295) | 6 months ago | wow thakyou owlwings, you seem to know alot about garening, this is my first ever time that i have grown veggies, and i am successful so far, i often wondered what them purple flowerd were growing in my flower garden, and now i know, i have a whole bunch of them all over the place, just one thing i would like to know, i have heard of cornflower that you add to gravy, is this the same thing and how do i get them to look like powder like the shop cornflower, is it the same thing? i have alot of wild birds in my garden which come and take food from their feeders, i have quite a few out there right now and i have seen so many different birds come and go...thankyou for this info, i learn every day new things which is great....so thankyou. | |
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| owlwings (5235) | 6 months ago | LOL ... no, CORNFLOUR that thickens gravy is made from CORN (i.e. Indian Corn or Maize). It is mostly starch, so it gives a lovely clear liquid when you use it as a thickening. Ordinary flour is good for thickening, too, but it has more protein in it, which makes the gravy whitish (or whiter) and not transparent.
Reminds me of the counsellor who was counselling a couple about to get married and he asked the man what flower was his wife's favourite ... he said "Homepride" (or "Pillsbury All-Purpose" depending on what country you are in) which nearly meant the marriage was off! | |
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| | | | | 3. drannhh (7501) | 6 months ago |  Wow, I was looking at your avatar and wondering "Are those Batchelor's Buttons" (which is what we call the cornflowers around here...but the photo below is kind of fuzzy. It seems, though, that it would be the same. Or maybe I need my eyeglasses adjusted. Or both.
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| | | | | | 4. tamarafireheart (12562) | 6 months ago |  Hi tatt,
Well I looked at it but I haven't a clue as I don't know much about unsual plants and flower, but it is very pretty, maybe a sort of corn flower like someone had said, love and hugs.
Tamara
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| tattylashes (4295) | 6 months ago | yes, it's confirmed that it is a cornflower, i looked it up and yep...it sure is. x | |
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| | | | | 5. mentalward (4305) | 6 months ago |  Sorry I'm so late getting to this discussion but I've had problems with both my internet connection and my computer.
I see that you've gotten a lot of the correct answer. That is most definitely a cornflower. They make excellent dried flower arrangements. I have some seeds to grow them but haven't gotten around to getting them planted yet. Hopefully, I'll be able to do that within the next few days. When they start growing, I'll take a photo so you can compare it to your photo.
I can't think of any other type of flower this could be. You've been really blessed with all the flowers you're finding in your garden, tatty! Flowers like these (perennials) travel, sometimes by way of the digestive tract of birds.  They eat the seeds, sometimes whole, which get passed through their digestive tracts and "deposited" wherever they happen to be at the time.
I had a similar thing happen the year my sister died. Her favorite flower was the Blackeyed Susan. I had not planted any Blackeyed Susans in my yard, yet weeks after her death, I noticed some growing in the corner of my garden. It really gave me a start! When you think about the spiritual side of life, this could have been a sign from my sister. But, I think it was more likely that a bird pooped in my yard with some intact Blackeyed Susan seeds in it. 
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| tattylashes (4295) | 6 months ago | it seems tha everyone is right mental, inclucing you, i have loads of them all over the place, i dug them up thinking they were weeds but they looked too pretty to be weeds so i replanted them in a sunny part of the garden and they have survived, they are beautiful, i have also found different types of poppy, the peony is growing rapidly, we have at least 12 of them now, maybe they were dropped from birds, because i definitely know that before i found the ones last year, there was nothing like that here, we even have 2x7ft foxglove which have never been here before, one is white and the other is like a lilac colour, the foxglove is in seed right now so if you like, i will wait for them to dry and i will send some over, by the way, did you ever plant them seeds i sent?
i do believe that people who have passed over send little signs to us just to let us know tha they are around so like them blackeyed susans, your sis is just letting you know that she is watching over you, when my friend gary died almost 2 years ago he plantes a lavender at the front of the house years before and it never really grew, when i went out the other morning, it was HUGE, i havecuttings right next to my desk and they smell gorgeous, so yep, i do believe that our loved ones and friends who have passed leave these little messages every now and then....i have never seen a lavender plant so big in all my life, but just of late it's grown massive and it looks so healthy. | |
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| | | | | 6. manunulat (402) | 6 months ago |  I think so, it is a cornflower. You may look at your neighbor's garden if they have the same plant... its seed may have been scattered by insects or other pollinators. I have the same experience too but its good to know what is the characteristic of this plant, this could be harmful with the others so take notice of its growing pattern, looks could be deceiving. LOL! Happy gardening!
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| tattylashes (4295) | 6 months ago | hi manulat, thankyou for the tips, i have done my research and read other peoples replies and yep yep yep, they are cornflowers, they have grown so tall right now, at least 2ft, the thing is, i live in a private stret and i don't have neighbours, our house is on it's own land and the whole street apart from this house are residential homes for the elderly, were the only house that actually have occupants, but maybe their gardens do have these plants there and they could have been airbourne, anything is possible, maybe a bird has dropped some seeds when they were in my garden, it's amazing what those little critters leave behind isn't it.... | |
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| | | | | 7. patriciaqualls (4604) | 6 months ago |  Hi Tatty,
They are beautiful I will have to go see if I can find them here in
California they are very beautiful. Thank you for sharing your flowers.
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| tattylashes (4295) | 6 months ago | patricia if you cannot find them just let me know and i will wait for them to seed and send some to you, that's not a problem at all...so just let me know, they are gorgeous, i just love them....like mentalward said, you can dry them and use them in a flower arrangement, they are about 2ft in height now and getting bigger.... | |
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| | | | | 8. GardenGerty (20350) | 6 months ago |  Wild flowers blow in and sometimes are planted by birds or other creatures. I bet they are lovely. I hope you continue to enjoy them.
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| tattylashes (4295) | 6 months ago | well it seems that we have a variety of flowers growing right now, we have 2x8ft foxglove growing which are beautiful, we also have some peony poppy and another species of poppy that i don't recognise, we have cornflower and some roses that i planted, but i didnt plant any of them apart from the roses, it's so strange what plants grow without not planting them, the birds or the wind must have brought the seeds because i definitely didn't plant them cornflower, but i am going to enjoy them anyway, they are lovely. | |
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