Where's the comfrey??

[Maximillian]

we have lots of plants on our allotment - quite large leaves pointed, with dark blue/purple flowers. is this comfrey? it has suddenly appeared on my plot!

[Flummery]

From this brief description it could be honesty. I'd put both into Google Images and see which resembles yours. The flowers are different.

[zazen999]

we have lots of plants on our allotment - quite large leaves pointed, with dark blue/purple flowers. is this comfrey? it has suddenly appeared on my plot!

It could be Borage, which is related to comfrey.

[FionaH]

It could be Borage, which is related to comfrey.

And darn invasive. On my second year trying to get rid

[Two_Sheds]

Borage is apparently even more nutritious (to plants) than comfrey ... but does become a pest when it seeds itself everywhere.

Bocking 14 - superb. Such a brilliant plant. I chucked some old bits of root (that I accidently cut with a spade) in the soil about 2 inches down, and now they are a foot tall. It is really vigorous.

[cupcake]

I got some from ebay, looked most unpromising, tho the packaging was good. Potted them up and they are growing away well, about 6" high. Will plant them out when the roots nearly fill the pot.

[snakeshack]

bought mine from the organic gardening catty,it arrived a week ago looking like 5 bits of wood 1 inch long, wasn't impressed.
planted it 1 in deep in 5 inch pots in mp compost.
planted it out on old manure heap yesterday as it was 3 ins high.
Pretty impressed now.

[FionaH]

Borage is apparently even more nutritious (to plants) than comfrey ... but does become a pest when it seeds itself everywhere.

.

Unfortunately it is all over my flower beds! Damn stuff will be left after a nuclear bomb

[sauzee]

Anyone seen it in Edinburgh as i have looked on google but images are not the same as if you looked at real plant (never seen a real one) at least i think not

[terrier]

I put some root in the ground about 2 months ago and nothing showing yet. I saved a bit and put it in a pot.. that's not showing either.
Worried of North Wales.
PS My Borage is growing well

[coreopsis]

Last year I thought it grew everywhere-plants I took for comfrey turned out to be...foxgloves

[StephenH]

I know this will be of no use to you as far as collecting comfrey is concerned, but it is interesting that there is an abundance of it growing strongly in very poor soil and rubble down the side of a Tesco store in Sheffield!

'The Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe' by Richard and Alistair Fitter (Collins) says that Russian Comfrey grows especially in "Dry waysides, [and] waste places", so that'd explain the above, and suggests where to look. The closely related Common Comfrey, (Russian is a hybrid between Common Comfrey and Rough Comfrey), grows typically "By fresh water, fens", and that is what I saw beside the Wendover arm of the Grand Union Canal in June of 2007, according to my note in the book. No doubt Common Comfrey is good for garden purposes as well.

[StephenH]

we have lots of plants on our allotment - quite large leaves pointed, with dark blue/purple flowers. is this comfrey? it has suddenly appeared on my plot!

Russian Comfrey has large, pointed leaves, and also blue or purple-blue flowers, according to the aforementioned book, so it sounds like it. Common comfrey has cream or mauve flowers.

RUSSIAN COMFREY


COMMON COMFREY

From this brief description it could be honesty. I'd put both into Google Images and see which resembles yours. The flowers are different.

HONESTY

[Flummery]

Borage also has a rounded leaf, a bit bumpy. The flowers are blue and very acceptable frozen into your ice cubes for a Pimms or a G&T in the summer. I also use them in summer salads along with calendula, nasturtium and day lily petals.

[StephenH]

BORAGE