Are there more unusual casuals this year?

There is the Nicotiana suavolens thread above. A friend tells me that
Datura stramonium has turned up in his son's garden; thornapple isn't
/that/ unusual, but this was in west Wales, where it isn't common. On
Friday I was round at another friend's garden in south Hampshire, and
she asked me to identify a small shrub which had turned up there. I was
somewhat surprised to find it was a pinky-red flowered Mirabilis.

I haven't noticed anything in my garden, but has anyone else found
something odd growing this year?

--

Jeff

On Mon, 3 Oct 2022 07:52:58 +0100, Jeff Layman <Jeff@invalid.invalid>
wrote:

>Are there more unusual casuals this year?
>
>There is the Nicotiana suavolens thread above. A friend tells me that
>Datura stramonium has turned up in his son's garden; thornapple isn't
>/that/ unusual, but this was in west Wales, where it isn't common. On
>Friday I was round at another friend's garden in south Hampshire, and
>she asked me to identify a small shrub which had turned up there. I was
>somewhat surprised to find it was a pinky-red flowered Mirabilis.
>
>I haven't noticed anything in my garden, but has anyone else found
>something odd growing this year?

An Erica lusitanica popped up from nowhere this spring. Didn't want it
so dug it out when it was about 12" high and before it had a chance to
flower, but pretty certain that's what it was (I used to have one
years ago in another garden many tens of miles away). Goodness knows
where it came from. A few Erica vagans seedlings also germinated in
the same bed. There used to be an E. vagans St. Keverne there a few
years ago, so these are seeds from it that have lain in the soil and
eventually germinated. Pretty pink in flower so I've kept them, but
lusitanica??!!

--
Chris

Gardening in West Cornwall, very mild, sheltered
from the West, but open to the North and East.

Jeff Layman wrote:

> Are there more unusual casuals this year?
>
> A friend tells me that Datura
> stramonium has turned up in his son's garden; thornapple isn't /that/ unusual,

I have one of those this year, I did have some lorry loads of soil brought in a
about 3 years ago, and several grew on that, but nothing in the intervening
years and this one is a hundred yards away from those.

> I haven't noticed anything in my garden, but has anyone else found something odd
> growing this year?

A Caper Spurge poking out from a heap of hardcore, it seems they normally like
hotter climes than the uk, I quite like it though I gather it's poisonous and
probably not to be encouraged as it can be invasive.

Also I have a lot of Lamb's Quarters where I didn't really want it as it's where
I seeded for wildflowers ... probably rotavating last winter brought it to the
surface?

On 03/10/2022 07:52, Jeff Layman wrote:
> Are there more unusual casuals this year?
>
> There is the Nicotiana suavolens thread above. A friend tells me that
> Datura stramonium has turned up in his son's garden; thornapple isn't
> /that/ unusual, but this was in west Wales, where it isn't common. On
> Friday I was round at another friend's garden in south Hampshire, and
> she asked me to identify a small shrub which had turned up there. I was
> somewhat surprised to find it was a pinky-red flowered Mirabilis.
>
> I haven't noticed anything in my garden, but has anyone else found
> something odd growing this year?
>

I was out walking the other day, and came across a location (where I
think soil was dumped to improve farm vehicle access) with Datura
stramonium, Amaranthus sp., Panicum miliaceum, Echinochlora crus-galli,
Silene gallica, Anthemis sp., Glebionis segetum, Ambrosia artemisiifolia
and Verbena bonariensis, as well as the more common Papaver somniferum
and Viola x wittrockiana. It looks as if the soil was contaminated with
both bird seed and a wildflower seed mix.

I've seen Petunia x hybrida at 3 sites this year, one of which was with
Nicotiana alata (and Papaver rhoeas).

I've seen Guizotia abyssinica at 3 sites; Eschscholtzia californica by
the side of a rural road, and Lactuca sativa on the banks of a
reservoir, and Vicia beneghalensis where ground was disturbed by HS2 works.

At separate locations in the town centre Briza maxima, Catapodium
rigidum and Lagurus ovatus were seen (the first has been established for
a year or few).

Also a variety of rare non-casuals, some new, and some on known sites,
including a couple of county first records.

--
SRH

Andy Burns wrote:

> Jeff Layman wrote:
>
>> A friend tells me that Datura stramonium has turned up in his son's garden
>
> I have one of those this year

went to spray-off some bare ground at my father's house at the weekend, and he
has one too, seems to be finding itself all over the place ...

On 11/10/2022 12:26, Andy Burns wrote:
> Andy Burns wrote:
>
>> Jeff Layman wrote:
>>
>>> A friend tells me that Datura stramonium has turned up in his son's garden
>>
>> I have one of those this year
>
> went to spray-off some bare ground at my father's house at the weekend, and he
> has one too, seems to be finding itself all over the place ...

Well, we keep hearing on the news that it's a particularly good year for
apples. ;-)

--

Jeff

On Mon, 03 Oct 2022 07:52:58 +0100, Jeff Layman wrote:

> Are there more unusual casuals this year?
>
> There is the Nicotiana suavolens thread above. A friend tells me that
> Datura stramonium has turned up in his son's garden; thornapple isn't
> /that/ unusual, but this was in west Wales, where it isn't common. On
> Friday I was round at another friend's garden in south Hampshire, and
> she asked me to identify a small shrub which had turned up there. I was
> somewhat surprised to find it was a pinky-red flowered Mirabilis.
>
> I haven't noticed anything in my garden, but has anyone else found
> something odd growing this year?

Just been to a local car park at a viewing spot.
There is a remarkably good showing of tomato plants, some with nearly ripe
tomatoes.
No sign of blight, either.

I assume dropped by picnickers.

Cheers

Dave R

--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

On 11/10/2022 13:44, Jeff Layman wrote:
> Well, we keep hearing on the news that it's a particularly good year for
> apples. 😉

Not here it isn't. We had a decent crop - but they all rotted before
ripening. Monty Don on Gardener's World reported this too and he's the
other side of the country from us.

Andy

On 11/10/2022 21:45, Vir Campestris wrote:
> On 11/10/2022 13:44, Jeff Layman wrote:
>> Well, we keep hearing on the news that it's a particularly good year
>> for apples. 😉
>
> Not here it isn't. We had a decent crop - but they all rotted before
> ripening. Monty Don on Gardener's World reported this too and he's the
> other side of the country from us.
>
And on the next episode he was making juice as he had so many apples
that hadn't rotted. Seems he was exaggerating a bit. Or I misunderstood.

Andy

On 11/10/2022 21:45, Vir Campestris wrote:
> On 11/10/2022 13:44, Jeff Layman wrote:
>> Well, we keep hearing on the news that it's a particularly good year
>> for apples. 😉
>
> Not here it isn't. We had a decent crop - but they all rotted before
> ripening. Monty Don on Gardener's World reported this too and he's the
> other side of the country from us.

Nothing wrong with the apple crop around here. Last year we had a grand
total of a dozen apples on a big tree that normally produces ~100kg.

The frost was at exactly the wrong time and burned off the flowers and
killed any flying insects that might have pollinated those remaining.

This year is well above that norm causing branches to sag. None are
rotten apart from the ones the birds have taken a nip out of on the top.

Did lose some outdoor tomatoes to blight (about half).

--
Regards,
Martin Brown