I feel sure this is a scullcap but I can't find which one it might be. The color is more delicate than what I am seeing on the sites I have checked. This is growing in north central Fl. & has been blooming since at least 3/15 & still going strong. It thrives in full sun to partial shade.


It is the flowers in the foreground of this photo -- the ones behind it are some kind of aster.

Looks more like a species of Stachys to me, rather than a skullcap.

Might be Hyssop Hedge-nettle (Stachys hyssopifolia), but many species in the genus (and several related genera) look pretty similar to each other, so it's hard to say for certain:

http://www.ct-botanical-societ...

http://plants.usda.gov/java/pr...

Oh you're right Kent! Thank you! I will research this further this evening.

Try Stachys floridana
Florida Betony (Stachys floridana)
If it's S. floridana the tubers are edible.

That's it Jay!

I saw that photo of the tubers & my first thought was, "Why is he posting a photo of him holding grubs? Ewwwwwww!"

These are covering a goodly portion of the property & I'm seeing more & more of them everyday. I think they are beautiful! I look out the window & in the morning when they are shaded it looks like a purple haze laying over the land. And then there are the asters & then the dandelions. And I wonder why my neighbors are so rabid about keeping their places mowed & scalped to within an inch of it's life. I can't imagine who does not enjoy the beauty of wildflowers!
And if times get hard I'll certainly have something to eat.

flaflwrgrl said:That's it Jay!

I saw that photo of the tubers & my first thought was, "Why is he posting a photo of him holding grubs? Ewwwwwww!"

That's what I thought when I first saw them in the ground.
They tast good, like mild radish.

Sounds like it's a similar flavor to Kohlrabi which I love. I'm not really sure though that I could get used to eating something that looks like grubs. I have a vivid imagination! And I know the hubs would NOT eat it.
However --- starving? I would eat it!

I've eaten rattle snake weed, but only because I had it in that garden...
It hitch-hiked in with a load of "free" compost.
Never again.

Getting rid of rattle snake weed is very difficult.

In my experience, none of the plants that it over-runs can be saved.

I have found that a wall to wall carpet over the top of sheet plastic... over the entire patch will eventually kill them.
takes a coupla years...
Left unchecked, this mint relative will blanket the city.

Well, FIRST....... to ATP stone!

I understand your sentiments but personally I love it & am quite happy to have it grow & grow & spread. We have 6 ac. & I wouldn't mind one bit if there were wildflowers all over the 6; in fact, that is my ultimate goal. We bought this place about 2.5 months ago. I so enjoyed looking out my kitchen window & seeing the "purple smoke" look the stachys presented. They also were/are in a bed around a sycamore tree but caladiums began coming up (planted by the previous owner) & we pulled the stachys out about a month ago & so far no new ones have appeared. Oh, I realize they will be back but it's not like I'm out there battling them daily or weekly.

AND I will say that it's quite possible that 1 day I will be cursing them.

flaflwrgrl said:Well, FIRST....... to ATP stone!

I understand your sentiments but personally I love it & am quite happy to have it grow & grow & spread. We have 6 ac. & I wouldn't mind one bit if there were wildflowers all over the 6;

Thanks for the welcome... Got your tree mail... checked your plants... ended up here in chagrin...

A 6 acre patch of wildflowers yes...
But not rattlesnake weed...

Fighting that stuff is like fighting nutsedge... And nutsedge has an interesting bloom too!
From http://westernfarmpress.com/un...

The start of a nutsedge problem begins with one tuber in the middle of a field. The next year it will be a clump 40- feet wide. By the third year, nutsedge will be all over the field.

Sounds bad? Florida betony does the same thing.

In that case I'm already doomed. It's all over the place. All under the pecan trees & in the meadows. There's no way I could eradicate it at this point.
And there is no way that I am going to use toxic chemicals. I don't do that.

stone Where are you located? Ann and I share alot of the same wildflowers.

Hey gingin, I'm a little way north of y'all.
I'm in the Georgia Sandhills, near Macon.
I do a lot of gardening in Macon, in various soil types and various amounts of sunlight.

flaflwrgrl said:In that case I'm already doomed. It's all over the place. All under the pecan trees & in the meadows. There's no way I could eradicate it at this point.
And there is no way that I am going to use toxic chemicals. I don't do that.

Did you read the part where I recommended covering a patch of the stuff with an old wall to wall carpet?

My garden style isn't much different from yours... I hate that nasty roundup!

I'm not sure that roundup does any good with tuberous perennials, anyway...
The extension service recommends spraying when it blooms, and... Then, they talk about percentages killed...
The carpet kills it all, by blocking the light...