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Can anyone ID this - weed, wildflower, annual?

yarrow2yarrow2 Posts: 782
in Fruit & veg
These have come up in a tiny bed which I sowed with a box of seeds called Easy Annuals.  Very few of the 'named' annuals on the scatter box have appeared (maybe next year) - but there are a few of these deep purple flowered plants.  Can anyone tell me what it is - friend, foe, something?   Many thanks.


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  • yarrow2yarrow2 Posts: 782
    Oops.   Sorry I seem to have mistakenly posted this in the 'Fruit and veg' thread.  Didn't mean to - and I don't know how to move it to 'plants'.  Sorry folks!
  • pitter-patterpitter-patter Posts: 2,429
    It looks like a purple balsam plant, impatiens balsamina.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    It looks like clarkia to me

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • pitter-patterpitter-patter Posts: 2,429
    I think @Pete is right. 
  • yarrow2yarrow2 Posts: 782
    Thanks so much pitter-patter and Pete.8.   That's really interesting - clarkia - another plant I know absolutely nothing about.   I really like the dark purple of this one.  Really appreciate your responses.
  • pitter-patterpitter-patter Posts: 2,429
    I didn’t know it either. It looks really nice and seems to be easy to grow. Is it self-supporting? 
  • yarrow2yarrow2 Posts: 782
    I think they may have been self-supporting if instead of them being part of a scatter-seed mixture they had been planted as 'clarkia' in a clump.   I have them in a really exposed position and I automatically staked two once they grew to about 2 foot as they started to keel over.  BUT - I sowed very late due to horrendous weather and very cold soil.  I'm suspecting that had I sowed the seed a tad deeper (rather than just surface raking-in of the seed mixture)  they may have become more stable.  Certainly the dark stems have hardened up in the last week and I suspect they would normally be easily self-supporting.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    You're obviously not as old as I am :)
    clarkia was one of the staple annuals back when I were a lad!
    I can just about remember they usually stayed upright unless the soil is too rich them then tend to flop a bit

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Pete.8 said:
    You're obviously not as old as I am :)
    clarkia was one of the staple annuals back when I were a lad!
    I can just about remember they usually stayed upright unless the soil is too rich them then tend to flop a bit
    I remember them too. My grandfather used to grow them in his greenhouse along with coleus and something else I’m trying to remember …

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • rodneylatchfordrodneylatchford Posts: 2
    Yes i have spotted two Clarkia like the one in the photo in my front garden ! they must have been the result of wild garden seeds scattered about 2-3 years ago, would these be a cultivated version i wonder?
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