You guys are great. I'll see what Latin I can find...
Here is the other bed/side of the house ... same plant, no babes. I keep posting b/c it's so weird how one "invaded" and these are just hanging out with not one offspring. I better just start pulling those other darn seedlings this weekend.
Kathleen- I'm just so happy that somebody agrees with me! I thought the flowers were not ajuga like....
My salvia has lived in a couple parts of the garden, trying to find its niche. This year it croaked in one spot (maybe too dry from root competition) but has thrived in the other,(less roots and some light protection from butterfly bush) and that's the spot where I'm now having quite a few babies.
Your last picture at 7:12pm - That looks like a single Ajuga plant. I should have photoed a single plant. Here are several bunched. Each single plant grows into layers like an African Violet.
Here are some single leaves
Very similar, ngj, if not the same. i think mine are less shiny, but that may not make a difference.
So, why would a nursery sell "Ajuga" or "Salvia" as Palace Purple Coral Bells?? Now I am bummed about this little nursery down the street. It's been in business for decades.
salvia- they sure are similar!!
sallyg, they sure look similar to me too. Except for the tall stalks on the salvia. As salvia matures, does it grow the leaves in layers? I am really reminded of African violet as far as the way the leaves layer as the Ajuga deveops into a mound. (The roots are totally different though.)
pegdog, maybe an Ajuga made it into just one of your "Coral bells" purchases, and that's why it's only spreading by one of your plants. As to why your Coral bells appear to be either salvia or Ajuga, I dunno. Were your plants labeled only with the common came of "Coral bells"?
Yep, looks like salvia, except only ONE of them is spreading ... the one I moved b/c i thought it was Heuchera.
NGJ - yep, labelled "Palace Purple" coral bells. bummer.
OK - now, do I pull it? I mean, if I let it sit there and breed, I'll just end up with a bed full of salvia, right? It's almost as bad as wheat celsoia!!
It's pretty easy to pull up the ones you don't want. The 1 plant I had in TN spread pretty far and I just pulled up those that I didn't want. They don't spread by roots, they spread by seed. So deadheading helps also. They really like mushroom compost. If it was just one of those sticks in the pot that said Purple Palace, a consumer could of stuck the tag into the wrong pot. I've seen that done a lot around here at my local nursery.
NGJ- Plant files has the ajuga and salvia in the same family, not too surprisingly. Twins separated at birth, more like!
The salvia doesn't have the layered look of an african violet; I'd say the leaves are all coming up in the middle, with the new ones sticking up more, sort of randomly, because they are forced up. not as neatly layered as my green ajuga, say.
see the IDENTIFICATION forum, is this russian sage, for a top ten why plants are mislabeled.
Thank you , sally. And everyone!
