Ask the Expert: Can you please identify this plant
This plant showed up in my garden this spring and has grown into a bush about 2.5 ft high since then, but it never flowered.  I live in the Pacific Northwest. Joe

Plant Expert Reply:

I think it is some type of Euphorbia.  Maybe Euphorbia amygdaloides or Euphorbia myrsinites.  Where in the pacific northwest did you find this plant?  Knowing which state or city might help make a stronger identification.

Hurricane Lily

Ask the Expert: What flower is this?
I found this flower growing in some dense brush and though i want to trim the brush I wasnt sure if doing so would hurt the flowers as they seem to like the shade.. DJ Dicey

Plant Expert Reply:

I believe this delicate pink flower is a Hurricane Lily (lucoris radiata) also known as a red spider lily.  These beautiful flowers are perennial and will live in full sun or partial shade areas.  So you can cut back the brush and the lilies will be ok.  These lilies usually pop up right before hurricane season (late September - October).  The flowers usually last a week or two and then leaves will appear. By next summer the leaves will die back. Then the whole process begins again.

Hibiscus Bloom

Ask the Expert: Can you identify this plant?
I have a plant that I would like to have identified. I have attached a picture below.  The leaves are a medium green and are elongated with serrated edges.  The blossom is a cream colour and I have had trouble identifying the exact colour of the centre - it is either a deep vibrant brown or a deep purple.  There are 5 petals on each flower and yellow stamens in the centre.  The flower is in bloom when I awake in the morning and when the plant is in shade or when it is dusk, the flowers are spent. Lin

Plant Expert Reply:

I can’t see a leaf clearly to make a positive identification on the species but it definitely in the Hibiscus genus.  I would guess a Hibiscus moscheutos (common rose mallow or swamp rose mallow) or a Hibiscus trionum (Flower-of-an-hour).  The rose mallows  are woody-based perennials hardy in zone 5-10.  The Flower-of-an-hour are short-lived perennials that are hardy in zone 10-11.

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Crassula ovata arborescens - Baby Jade

Ask the Expert: could you please tell me what kind of plant this?
i have this plant someone gave me and i dont know what kind it is could you please help and also could you tell me how to care for it thanks. Linda

Plant Expert Reply:

Your plant is a succulent commonly called Baby Jade (Crassula ovata arborescens). I have one of these on my patio table.  If it is a true Baby Jade, you will see a slight red margin on the edge of some of the leaves.  Otherwise it is a Crassula ovata (Jade Plant).

They are extremely easy to take care of because they are tolerant of dry conditions. So if I forget to water it in the hot summer, it doesn’t seem to care. Baby Jade likes a fair amount of light and can be pinched to shape it.  Watch for scale, aphids, spidermites, snails and slugs.  Over-watering will cause root-rot.  Keep it towards the dry side.  Fertilize every month or every other month with a well-balanced fertilizer.

Good luck and keep me posted.  I think you’ll love this plant. I do!

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Nipponanthemum nipponicum

Ask the Expert: WHAT IS THIS FLOWERING PLANT?
HI,I LIVE IN MASSCHUSETTS AND RECENTLY THIS PAST SUMMER I FOUND THIS PLANT GROWING IN MY BACKYARD BUT I DID NOT PLANT IT. IT HAS A BARE BROWNISH 10 12′ STALK WITH THE THICK RUBBER LIKE LEAVES ALL GROWING UP TOP IN A THICK CLUSTER.IT STARTED TO BUD IN EARLY SEPTEMBER BUT HAS YET TO FLOWER.PLEASE HELP IN IDENTIFYING THIS FOR ME.

THANK YOU,
MICHAEL IN MASSACUSETTS

Plant Expert Reply:

I needed a little help identifying this plant.  I knew I had seen it before but just couldn’t put my finger on the name for it.  So I contact the fabulous people at Tower Hill Botanical Garden in Boylston Massachusetts for some help. (They have an awesome botanical garden with some fantastic educational programs)

Here is their reply

Hi Jamie,
You may have your answer by now, but the plants looks like a Nippon or Montauk daisy to me.  You could look it up on Google Images to see if that is what yours looks like. It is evidently a native of Japan and first found here on the shore near Montauk, NY.
Best,
Sukey Haney

After looking at several pictures of Nipponanthemum nipponicum (Nippon/Montauk daisies), I believe that is what your plant is.  In the past this plant was classified as Chrysanthemum nipponicum.

Nippoanathemum are hardy in zones 5 to 9 and make an excellent cut flower. This shrubby perennial attracts butterflies and loves full sun.  Trim it back in the spring to maintain the shape. 

Please send me a picture when it blooms.  From the look of the healthy plant, it should be gorgeous when it blooms.

Just a little side note: If you are in the Boylston Massachusetts area this weekend,  the Tower Hill Botanic Garden is hosting 2 flowers shows and from Sept 26th until November they have an amazing scultpure show.

Spiky Flower Pod

Ask the Expert: Found this plant and trying to find out more
Hello!  I am trying to find out more about this plant I found.  It has these green round balls with small spikey things on them, but they are filled with air.  Do you know anything like that?  One of my friends thinks she has seen them dried before.  She thought it was called an Oscar - but I keep doing online searches and can’t come up with anything! THANKS! Michelle

Plant Expert Reply

It appears to be a Gomphocarpus physocarpus or Asclepias physocarpus.  You friend was partially correct. There is a Asclepias physocarpus called Oscar. It is commonly called Ballon plant or Swan plant and is in the milkweed family.  Catepillars love this plant.  Although I don’t think it is native any where in the U.S. (it is a southeast Africa native), there are many seed supplier who sell this plant.  It can become invasive if not controlled.

Type Of Helianthus

Ask the Expert: Yellow Wildflower - grows in Kentucky
This flower (I’m sorry the pick is somewhat past bloom) grows all along the farm - my friend believes it to be wild cosmos… and I didn’t think there was a cosmos genus around here - could you help us out?

Thank you! Anne

Plant Expert Reply:

I believe it is a type of Helianthus.  Kentucky has many wild species of Helianthus.  My best guess would be one of the following: Helianthus hirsutus (Hairy Sunflower), Helianthus strumosus (Pale-leaved Woodland Sunflower) or Helianthus tuberosus (Jerusalem artichoke).  Of course it is a little hard to tell without an open bloom.

Clarkia elegans Blooms

Clarkia elegans

It looks like a form of Clarkia unguiculata or Clarkia elegans. It is an annual flower that is naturally found on dry, open slopes in North America to South America. Some Clarkia make good cut flowers. I’m not sure if this species does, but you might try cutting a few stems.

I received this questions on 9/9/09.

Ask the Expert:

Solanum Triflorum - Cutleaf Night Shade

Plant Expert Reply:

I am stumped. I have passed the picture on to some colleagues at the Wyoming Extension Service.  Hopefully, they will have an identification for us tomorrow.  I apologize for the delay in identifying this unique plant.

After sending this message to Connie, she replied back with this message:

Dear Jamie,

Attached are a few more photos of the plant.  The last photo shows the hilltop location of the plant which is in middle of a scoria rock outcrop.

One lady thought it might be a tenpetal starburst but I researched and the leaves are not at all rough but shiney and it makes no mention of the fruit that hangs along the underside of the leaves.  In fact, all of the starbursts I looked at did not have any fruits but had seeds which were not like little tomatoes.

thank you so much,

(I’m researching too still but come up with nothing).

Connie

Thanks to an email from Karen Panter, we finally have an identification. This is the email identification I received:

It’s a weedy plant known as Solanum triflorum or cutleaf nightshade. It is native to North America east of the Cascades to the Great Plains. It inhabits waste places and cultivated fields as a weed.
Karen P.

Karen L. Panter, Ph.D., C.P.H.
Extension Horticulture and Specialty Crops
Plant Sciences - 3354
University of Wyoming

Thanks Karen for the identification!

Ask the Expert: What kind of plant is this and how can I save it?
Hi,

Do you know what kind of plant this is? It has flat ‘catus-shaped’ leaves.

Do you know how I can save it? It’s losing a lot of leaves . . .

Please help!

Thanks,  Jen

Plant Expert Reply:

This has been a hard one for me.  It kind of looks like a fern but not exactly like a staghorn fern.  My guess would be either a Phlebodium aureum ‘Mandaianum”  (Rabbit Foot Fern) or a Polypodium californiucum.

To make a better identification I would need photos of the back side of the leaves and the area where the leaves are coming from.

From what I can tell, the plant probably has a water stress issue.  Is the soil dry?  Is any excess water draining from the container?  If the soil is dry water it and keep it moist.  If the plant is sitting in water re-pot it into a container that has drain holes.  Then keep the soil moist but not soggy.  I also suggest exposing it to more light.