What plants are these?

[Mr Arch]

We were sitting in my Dad's garden earlier and admiring his plants.  This one none of us could identify.  Any thoughts?





Dad has four of them in the garden and a few more starting off.  He says he bought some bird feed and the birds discarded some seeds they didn't like, into some of his pots, and the seeds sprouted into these plants.  He can't even remember what the seeds looked like.

Cheers.

[Arch]

Our first thought was foxgloves, but instead of the tall spike of flowers alone, each flower has a leaf at the base.  A relative?

[pcolbeck]

Mrs Pcolbeck thinks it's a type of foxglove.

[spindrift]

Think it's a foxglove. Keep the seed, it's a beauty.

[Mr Arch]

I think it is really pretty.
It stands about 3' tall in the pot and the leaves at the base are about 10"x4".
Very architectural looking.

[Tail End Charlie]

It's a white foxglove.

[Bledlow]

This is a potentially useful thread. There are two unidentified saplings on our new allotment. Can anyone say what they are?





Closer views of leaves -





One of our allotment neighbours said he couldn't imagine our predecessor would have planted anything unproductive.

[Riggers]

Bledders. Initial thoughts are/were that it's a Lime. Not completely convinced by that, but are there any mature trees of similar ilk nearby?

[tiermat]

Riggers, I have come to the same conclusion:

http://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/tree-identification/lime/

[Wowbagger]

I think they look like limes as well.

They could be beautiful trees in about 100 years. Some years, bees can take a very fine honey crop form limes.

[Peter]

I think we may be seeing two different trees here.

[Riggers]

Interestingly Tierers, from that site you highlighted, I found this;

http://www.woodlands.co.uk/why-buy-a-woodland/diary-of-long-wood/

Rodney and Heather having purchased 'Long Wood' for themselves, and their diary. Scroll down and read May's edition. Very informative on certain species. Stuff I wasn't aware of.

[Wobbly John]

The leaves look like lime if they are big, but looking at the bark makes me think it could be hazel.

[Bledlow]

Bledders. Initial thoughts are/were that it's a Lime. Not completely convinced by that, but are there any mature trees of similar ilk nearby?

None that I can see.

I'd be very surprised if they're limes unless they're self-sown. I think that planting large decorative trees in the middle of the allotment would be a breach of the regulations, & the allotment holders I've spoken to who knew our late predecessor all say that he planted things to eat.

If they're really Tilia sp., we'll have to dig 'em up.

[L CC]

The leaves look like lime if they are big, but looking at the bark makes me think it could be hazel.

+1

What sort of texture are the leaves?
How straight are the saplings?
Branches?

[henshaw11]

I'd guess lime, but the bark isn't unlike the (downy I assume) birch seedings we get in the garden from time to time.

(I realise rboab's piccie is hazel - giving checked the image name - but it also looks quite like elm)

Elm (and I think hazel) leaves feel a bit coarse and stiff, whereas lime feels soft and floppy

[L CC]

Yes. Hazel leaves are rough surfaced.

[Bledlow]

Photo 1 - tree 1.
Photo 2- tree 2.
Photo 3 - tree 1.
Photo 4 - tree 2, with the trunk of tree 1 in the background.

1 is dead straight. 2 looks as if it's suffered a bit of misfortune, & the top has been damaged & bent over, but otherwise is pretty straight. See the pictures for branches: look like bog-standard tree shape. Sticking out sideways & pointing up a bit.

The leaves differ a little between the two trees. 1 (the undamaged one) has slightly smaller, softer & brighter green leaves than 2. The colour & surface texture differences in the photos are real.

The last photo gives the best view of the bark of both saplings.