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I'm sorry no picture. I live in Seattle. Plant is a woody deciduous shrub-y thing; about 3'. Long, light green leaves with grey-ish hint. Most remarkable feature is flower/seed heads; in bloom the heads of florets (?) are cone-shaped and curve over, like a pre-historic arthropod, and are blue to purple with the original green still in the bloom. Lovely. They leaf out early and "bloom" starting around Easter time. It's the 24th of September and they have died back almost completely. They grew up in a West-facing garden plot, so full sun. I really like this and would love to know what it is, or even an educated guess. I haven't seen it on any of the image engines of Northwest plants, so it's probably not a native. I may need to move everything in that bed in order to put in basement windows and would like to look after this thing properly. I hope it isn't something noxious. Thank you for your time!
Answer -
Hello Susan,
I apologize, I'm having a hard time "seeing" your plant.
My first thought with regards to the gray foliage, woody stems and bluish-purple cone flowers is a Butterfly bush or Buddleia. However the bloom time is way off.
Could you please tell me if the leaves or opposite or alternate across the stem from each other? Has it died back to the ground or just lost leaves? Are the florets, many small flowers like a Hydragea or "one" flower?
Sorry that I have to ask you more questions...please write back and we will continue to work on the ID.
Thank you for your question,
Angie
Thanks--no it's definately not a buddleia; I have one of those. The leaves alternate up the stem. It has died right back to the ground. The "flower" is just one flower, and it has the same surface texture as the leaves, at first. The flower "cone" really is like something animal; a seashell or--have you ever seen a picture of a West African pangolin? It looks like that. Definately not hydrangea-like, and not like the buddleia flowers, either.
Thank you so much for your thoughts--I hope you can keep helping!
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Would you say the leaves have a thisle like apperance?
Couldn't get to you earlier this week--the site said you weren't taking any more questions when I tried to ask the follow up. Anyhow--no, the leaves do not have a thistle-like look. More like sage, but longer. any more ideas?
Susan
AnswerSusan,
Sorry about that...I only allow 3 questions a day so that I can keep up.
If the leaves are not thistle like then that shot down the three plants I had in mind.
Now I'm really uncertain...I hate to admit defeat but I'm stumped.
A picture is the most helpful, if you are ever able to get one I would more then likely solve this for you but for now I can't help anymore.
Again, sorry that I didn't get this for you and thank you for anwering all my questions...I really thought I was narrowing it down.
Angie
