Unknown Fragrant ......ID?

steg · Post by **steg** » Jul 29, 2008 9:14 pm

Looking for some ID help...

Dark Green
4 eyes right now
Leaf: 7" wide, 7" Long
Scape: 17"
Flower: White, very fragrant
Vein: 10 (I think)
Overall plant is about 13" x 13" (closer to 17" in one direction)

very much root bound when we picked it up...it had likely been in a pot too small for it for a long time.

Picked this one up at a road side stand. Dr. Dave mentioned the place and it was on our way home - here is what I ended up with (among a few others).

I was hoping for a tag on it when we went to plant it, but didn't find one....now I'm turning here for any thoughts.

HostaDesigner · Post by **HostaDesigner** » Jul 29, 2008 9:40 pm

Uhhh...err...hmmm.... Wow. I'm stumped.

DBoweMD · Post by **DBoweMD** » Jul 29, 2008 9:59 pm

I would guess Fried Green Tomatoes

dhaven · Post by **dhaven** » Jul 29, 2008 10:15 pm

I second the Fried Green Tomatos--it was my first thought form the description, and the pictures confirmed it. The flower is definitely a Plantaginea type, which is also where the fragrance is inherited, but Plantaginea has a medium to light green color and very little or no corrugation, while FGT is a dark green and does show moderate corrugation. It's another of the Guacamole family.

Be prepared for this to turn into a rather large plant. Mine is about 4 years old, and around 32 inches tall by 5 feet across. It was from a little tissue culture tiny start, so it may have a little bit of growing to do. This variety will grow well just about anywhere, from full shade to full sun, but it needs plenty of sun to produce a good crop of blooms. Humming birds love this one.

steg · Post by **steg** » Jul 30, 2008 8:06 am

Thanks for the input....we have a Fried Green Tomatoes that is much smaller. This will help as we can compare the two. The bloom and smell reminded me a lot of Guacamole (which is about 5 feet from this one).

It's the heavy corrugation that I didn't expect. Any chance the corrugation could be enhanced from being so root bound?

I'm guessing it may look different next year as it can spread much easier (compared to the pot is was in).

We'll see.....

DBoweMD · Post by **DBoweMD** » Jul 30, 2008 8:37 am

I think that the rootbound pot could very well explain the rugosity (Just a gut feeling). I'm sure it has had plenty of fertilizer in it. That shininess reminds me of FGT. Flower looks like a dead ringer for Guacamole.
There just is no other dark green fragrant plant in the common trade. My guess is that it was a Guacamole that lost its variegation, sporting to FGT and they took the Guacamole tag out because of that.
I saw Warwick Essence at Ken's place Saturday evening, which is a big blue elegans type with fragrant flowers, but never seen it for sale. The lady's source is someone who grows a limited number of popular cultivars with a few real unusual ones thrown in, but they are the kind of things that came from TC in the past 4 or 5 years.
It also does not look like Moonlight Sonata, a bluegreen non-rugose fragrant plant.

steg · Post by **steg** » Jul 30, 2008 9:10 am

Thanks Dave. We also have a Moonlight Sonata. This unknown matches much better with Guacamole and FGT. I just went out and looked at the new leaves on it - much better comparison to FGT. Not nearly as rugose as the older leaves.

The missing tag scenario makes sense too.

Post by **Chris_W** » Jul 30, 2008 9:47 am

Warwick Essence was tissue cultured by Winterberry Farms before, so it might be out there still. The corrugation looks too uniform to me to be from being pot grown, or from frost/freeze damage. That can happen, but this looks too "normal" to me. It had me stumped, too, the first time I saw it. If it has completely smooth leaves next spring it could be Fried Green Tomatoes though.

steg · Post by **steg** » Jul 30, 2008 12:11 pm

Thanks Chris and Dave.

Sounds like a wait and see.

I had a hard enough time waiting for it to bloom, now I need to wait until next year

oh boy

Mike