Quick Questions & Answers

QPlease could you identify the tall tree in the background? I have tried for years to find out but to no avail. I see it in Ibiza. Sue Bradshaw (via email)

AThe tree is a Norfolk Island pine (Araucaria

heterophylla). A native of Norfolk Island, in the Pacific, it grows in temperate and sub-tropical regions and ascends to 80-150ft (25-45m).

QPlease could you identify this plant growing in a neighbour’s garden?

I would like to get one too.

James Thatcher, Billericay, Essex

AIt is Mirabilis jalapa, commonly called the four o’clock plant because its flowers open in the late afternoon. A native of Peru, tropical North, Central and South America, it’s a bushy perennial that blooms from early to late summer.

The best way to keep it is to lift the tubers in autumn and overwinter them in pots of dryish compost in a frost-free place. Propagate it by dividing tubers in late spring before planting them outdoors.

QI grew this plant from seed but didn’t keep the packet. What is it? Sheila Smith (via email)

AI think it is a Cosmos sulphureus known as the Sulphur Cosmos or Yellow Cosmos. It is in the same plant family as the marigolds (Asteraceae or daisy family) but not that closely related.

Given that the plant is orange, I wonder if you have grown a cultivar such as ‘Tango’ or ‘Sunset’ - it isn’t easy to be certain from a photograph but hopefully that might prompt a memory of the seeds you bought!