Re: Looking for plant ID

I'd agree with John's i.d. of the Aristea as being A.
ecklonii.  Take heed of John's warning on this plant
seeding itself around in the garden, it is incredibly
vigorous in a watered garden situation.  Perhaps best
to not let it go to seed.  It will repeat bloom for me
if it is regularly deadheaded, and the intense blue
flowers are highly attractive.  This is commonly
available in the trade here.  A. major (thyrsiflora)
is the only other Aristea more commonly grown here,
and Annie Hayes of Annie's Annuals has occasionally
offered plants of this, along with the more common A.
ecklonii for sale as 4 inch pots.  You can see A.
major/thyrsiflora at Strybing Arboretum as well, where
it forms a more vigorous foliaged plant to 2.5~3 feet
tall in foliage looking more like a Watsonia when out
of bloom, with tall unbranched flowering spikes to 4
feet, with the same, but larger deep blue flowers in
late spring/early summer, and not nearly as prone to
self sow in the garden.  This plant is also quite
plentiful growing on Table Mountain in Cape Town on
seasonally wet soils, although it wasn't blooming as
early as August/early September when I saw it, usually
in  the company of Restios and Proteas.

Martin Grantham here in Emeryville, Ca. has also
occasionally offered various other smaller species of
Aristea for sale which he had seen in South Africa and
started from seed, but none of them have been as easy
to keep alive in the garden without special care. (At
least I killed all of them as container plants within
the first year).  I'd be interested to know if anyone
else has luck with any of them.


As to the plant with the yellow daisy like flowers, I
don't know what it is, but might also suggest that it
could be a S. African Senecio species.   It also has
flowers that are reminescent of some of the local
California natives along the coast such as Grindelia,
Eriphyllum, and Tanacetum.  It might help to i.d. this
plant if there was additional info; such as whether it
was growing in a botanical garden collection, what
region of the world it is from if known, etc.

Good luck with getting a name for this plant
David Feix



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