The Old Bait & Switch

In the Plant Swap with my sister last year, one of my favorite acquisitions was caryopteris. (At the time it was known as the "mystery purple shrub" but it was later properly identified.) I planted it in the front right border and it grew throughout the season. However, it never turned out the beautiful purplish-blue blooms that I expected, and I was puzzled. But I still had faith.

This year, the plant grew taller and was yellow once again. I began to grow skeptical, particularly when I noticed waves of a suspiciously similar looking plant in the roadside wilds on my morning run.

The impossibility of this actually being caryopteris was confirmed when I discussed the mystery with both of my sisters recently. One had researched the plant and found it is a shrub and therefore you can't divide from cuttings or portions of the plant.

So here stands the mystery plant, which I now consider a weedy intruder in an unfortunate (but unintentional) case of "the old bait and switch" -- and it won't remain here much longer!

Comments

[Cherry]

Looks like what we call Goldenrod which makes me sneeze & feel yucky .. lol

[tina]

Are you talking about the tall flowering plant pictured? That is goldenrod. Definitely not caryopteris. A roadside weed for sure, but a pretty one in the right spot in the garden. It spreads by runners and seeds. I let some of mine go, others I pull. Maybe the caryopteris died out and the goldenrod was already in the pot? I have had that happen at plant sales before.

[easygardener]

Annoying isn't it. You hang on till the bitter end waiting for it to transform into the expected plant - and it turns out to be something else! I've often had the same thing happen.

[Andrea]

Hello Beth, how funny - though not funny to you probably. I have the same happen one year where I traded and switched with another garden plant. I kept wondering about this huge plant and waited for it to bloom. Well, to make a long story short, another friend told me I was growing weeds. Out it went ! :-) Greetings from Germany, Andrea

[Beth]

Thank you for the info, Cherry and Tina. Another "mystery plant" now has a name!