Ok, seems to be a common topic these days!
My mystery plant volunteered in a brugmansia pot...it says "salvia" to me, but I've grown nothing like it before. Coming up near the rim of the pot, I can imagine a bird sitting on the rim & leaving a "gift" behind.

I suspect salvia for these reasons: square stem & aromatic leaves (which measure about 3" across). It also reminds me of a coleus, but the leaf smell seems too strong. It seems to handle the sun well. I was even suspicious it might be a nettle, but I've touched it without being stung. The only salvia I've grown with leaves this size have been Yvonne's and Clary Sage, but this looks like neither of those. The pic doesn't show it clearly, but the new leaves have a yellowish green color towards the stem end, then they mature to a uniform darker green.

Anyone have a clue?!



Patrick
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place

Salvia was my first thought too Patrick. Did you grow Salvia subrotunda. Those seem to be a lighter green as they start out.

Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

Penny, I've had the S. subrotunda in the past...probably 2007 or before. It sure doesn't look familiar - would the leaves be this big?

Patrick
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place

some of my plants did get really big leaves last summer. In fact one plant did get over 5ft. tall. I just came back inside from looking at some of this year's plants and some have leaves that are about 3 inches wide. I don't grow as many different salvias as others. My main salvias are subrotunda coccinea, greggiis and guaranitcas. It has been a while since I had Pineapple sage so I can't recall how big the leaves were on that but some of the S. elegans have leaves with more yellow to them also. Golden Delicious is one I believe.

Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

I am not familiar with Yvonne's sage but I know clary that's a very hairy very stinky leaf

to me it looks like a salvia mexicana sorry about the spelling

sarah merion station, Pennsylvania zone 6B

Sarah, I would recognize the clary sage in a heartbeat...they volunteer in my flowerbeds regularly. Unless it has crossed with something else, this definitely isn't one of those. I have pineapple sage & yellowish cast to the new leaves is similar...but not the leaf size & texture. Before my plant gets any bigger, I should try to get it out of that pot and either into the ground or a pot of its own.

Patrick
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place

It does seem to be growing pretty fast Patrick so I too think it needs its own space.

Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

Patrick,

Looks like my salvia guaranatica "Purple Majesty" leaves to me...I just went out and measured to be sure, and, those leaves are about 3 inches across. I buy that plant every year from Select Seeds, and the hummers favor it!

Emily

Emily may have it , but mine are still so small 3 inches is like a dream....I received 2 plant from HCG and they are smaller than anything else in the garden.

It could be Salvia Guaranitca, that would be my guess. Do you have eitehr of those in your gardens Patrick?

Pam NJ 6B

Gosh Patrick - It looks so familiar - kinda like that word that is just othe tip of your tounge that you can't recall LOL!

I can only think of Salvia chiapensis as looking something like those leaves except yours seem larger...anyhow its fun guessing!


Carol
Milford, CT
Zone 6

At this point my only guess is Salvia

Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

I agree Penny, Salvia for sure!

Pam NJ 6B

I'm still thinking salvia mexicana

sarah merion station, Pennsylvania zone 6B

I am thinking subrotunda because of the leaf's rounded stem end. Every year there are some mystery ones in my garden too, somehow if they don't get weeded they turn normal as the season progresses.

I also have a mystery plant. I thought it was Penstemon digitalis that had self sowed but now I am leaning towards a smartweed. I have three of these plants that have come up in the spring one is right next to the Penstemon the other two are very strategically positioned around the bed almost as if I had planted them like that. All this time I have been letting them grow and even fertilized them a bit this spring because I thought they were Penstemons and they are about 2 1/2ft. tall now. They haven't flowered yet so I am not 100% sure that is what they are. The stems are branching off the main stem all the way up which my Penstemon hasn't done

Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

Patrick

Here are a couple of shots of the only subrotunda I have growing. Hope this helps decide or maybe eliminate.







Steve
Martinsville, In
Heat zone 6
Sunset zone 35

Steve, that sure looks like the same plant I have. Where the seed came from is sure a mystery. The soil in that pot was purchased and hauled in. That brugmansia was planted a year or two after I had any subrotundas (and I still don't remember any leaves like those!). I'm going to be anxious to see it bloom!


Patrick
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place