What is this?

[reed]

I'm always coming across things, plants and otherwise that I don't know what is. Sometimes I have some guess and can google it but it is more fun and I think I get better info by asking here. So, I'm making thread so we can all post pictures of things we can't identify ourselves. 

This plant showed up n my garden and first I thought it was a radish but it soon didn't look like a radish and then I though maybe it was some kind of mullein because its leaves are so fuzzy. Does anyone know what it is and if I should eat it, smoke it, or destroy it before it goes to seed?

[copse]

Looks like borage. They say the leaves taste like cucumber, but they taste like fish to me. I think I did try a plant when it was older, and it tasted more like cucumber.

[ferdzy]

Definitely borage! Excellent for attracting pollinators. It's one of those things that is theoretically edible, but not actually all that appealing. That said, the flowers make a pretty garnish for drinks and salads.

Oh, and it's a self-inflicted weed. It will seed ALL over, so take some steps if you don't want that.

[templeton]

until recently the flowers were used as garnish in fancy restaurants. Recently it's got onto the not edible list due to allergic reactions from some patrons apparently. I was told it's something to do with the hairs.
T

[reed]

Thanks, it is a pretty plant but sounds like it doesn't belong in the garden.

[philagardener]

I want to echo ferdzy 's remark about this being a bee plant known to attract pollinators. Without a good number of bees, your open flowered tomatoes might not set well! 

It maintains itself around our gardens by self seeding but never has gotten out of hand.  The seeds are large enough that I think the birds get a lot of them.

[ferdzy]

Yeah, I suppose it doesn't seed that many plants... however each individual plant takes up a lot of room! They are easily weeded out when small, less easily once large.

Someone gave me a jar of borage honey this winter - it was lovely.

[reed]

Thanks for all the info. It's a pretty plant and this one isn't crowding anything too much. I like the blue flowers. I'll probably just leave it there for now but not let it drop too many seeds. I got so many weeds anyway another kind won't matter that much, it can't be any worse than cilantro. As far as pollinators go we are blessed with lots of them anyway.

[richardw]

Ive got borage growing in my garden,its been growing in one corner for 10-25 years and has never spread any further, great for the bumblebees.

[steev]

What's wrong with cilantro? That, Arugula sylvatica, and flat-leaf parsley are plants I'm trying to totally naturalize on my farm.

[reed]

Cilantro is fine, it's just very well naturalized here to the point I consider it a weed in the garden. It can live outside the fences, nothing seems to bother it. Arugula just doesn't want to take but several lettuces seem to be taking hold on their own and there is an occasional volunteer basil. Never tried to grow parsley. And, dill, also a weed but I love it so much it's welcome anywhere. 

[steev]

Aren't sphinx moths the adult stage of tomato hornworms? Might be a conflict attracting them to the tomato patch.

What I've called Arugula sylvatica is apparently Eruca selvatica; for me it's at least a short-lived perennial; more pungent than salad arugula, increasingly so as the weather heats up; sparingly self-seeding; bees like it; the notion of a patch large enough to get arugula honey interests me.

[kazedwards]

Anyone know what this is? It's a big plant that has a growth habit of a strawberry plant. It has little berries too. It growing in Colorado at around 7000ft. Maybe hops?

[farmermike]

Yes, definitely hops! Some of those "cones" looks pretty close to ripe too. Grab a few and take a whiff if you get a chance. They should be very aromatic if they are ripe.

Looks like a very vigorous plant. Mine are scrawny compared to that -- though they are only 2 years old. I think they get more vigorous every year as they get older. Once, when hiking on the outskirts of Yosemite National Park, I saw a giant wild hop plant that had completely enveloped a large cottonwood tree. Of course, they die back to the ground every winter, so that is all one season's growth.

[kazedwards]

I will have to if I get the opportunity.