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Dipsacus fullonum

 
Dipsacus fullonum
common teasel; Fuller's teasel
Dipsacus fullonum

Synonym(s) Dipsacus sylvestris
Common name common teasel; Fuller's teasel
Family dipsacaceae
Life cycle biennial
Flowers blue
Size 6'
From seed Germinate at room temperature.
detailed seed-starting info below
Seed ripensmid-September

Considered a weed throughout its range in the U.S. – but it's a magnificent weed. It doesn't do much in its first season, staying put as a tidy low rosette. But by mid-spring of its second year, it starts adding stature, in the form of strongly upright stalks. The large crinkly leaves, arranged oppositely along its beefy stalk, form cups that collect water during rainstorms. Flowers appear in early summer; individual rows of purple flowers arranged around the prickly inflorescence open a few at a time, the ring of bloom walking up the overall flower as the season progresses. Each of the plants' flowers sets copious amounts of seed; they self-sowed prolifically around the area they were planted, so perhaps I'll take to calling this a full-blown weed one of these days - but I'm glad to have had the opportunity to observe its habit and form.

common teasel; Fuller's teasel
Dipsacus fullonum
The plants have some prickly features: sparsely arranged thornlets along the stem, and more regularly spaced prickles along the prominent rib running across the underside of the leaves.

common teasel; Fuller's teasel
By early August, most of the flowers have turned to reddish-brown seedheads
Dipsacus fullonum
Still standing in mid-March, the pale stalks with brown seed heads are a stark reminder of last year's garden.

We left this plant behind in our Pennsylvania garden (and wish it well); we don't grow it in Houston.

Seed for this plant is included on my seed trade list

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Seed-starting details for this plant

  1. Seed from '06 trade. Baggy 70F (35%G, 4d)
  2. Seed from '08 garden. Baggy 70F (90+%G, 4-7d)

Only plump seeds are viable.


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