Tinantia erecta, aka Widow’s Tears or False Dayflowers.
This little stunner is Tinantia erecta, aka Widow’s Tears or False Dayflowers, from the Commelinaceae family. More normally it is found in places like Mexico or India, certainly not in a UK garden.
Nevertheless, this example popped up beneath the foxglove tree on our patio. I’d been mulling over the sudden appearance of strange leaves in the bed, trying to remember what I’d planted. Except I hadn’t! Google Plant ID was telling me it was possibly Commelina benghalensis. Nope, definitely not.
And then it flowered and I recognised it. It must have been in a pot whose compost I threw away in disappointment earlier in the year. The summer weather clearly managed to charm the seed into germinating after all. Yay!
Now I’ve read that its seeds are frost-proof, so I am wondering if it might end up being a sugar-pink feature longer term. I can only dream (and collect more seed of course).
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What a nice surprise!
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I am hoping for seed to save, but it is getting late.
A lovely, late season surprise!
There seems to be quite a few of those this year (in the flower world at least)!
Very pretty. Some plants just don’t want cosseting and prefer to grow where THEY want! š
š¤£ Don’t they just!
A little stunner – I agree. I would have had no idea what it was if I’d have seen it. The leaves remind me of toad lilies, the flowers of tradescantia and the buds of borage. I hope it persists.
Yes, very like tradescantia flowers. I think it’s the fluffy filaments that make it seem so.
It’s such a pretty thing, and so different from ours. I don’t think I would have recognized it as belonging to the genus, but of course that makes sense, given its native home!
Ah, ha. It’s in the family, but not the genus, though the common names are the same.
I saw those in the glasshouse at Cambridge Botanic Gardens a month ago. I like the blue version better!
What an intriguing experience, Allison!
Glad I spotted the flowers when I did, as next day they were sadly done in by slugs š¦