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I talked about this perennial in my garden photos for 2019 thread. It's about 8 feet tall, flowers resemble sunflowers, but don't think it is a sunflower. In my Michigan wildflower book they mention a plant called false sunflower, but they only get to 4 feet. I love this plant, because it's stems are like mini bamboo shoots that I've been using to make a bean trellis and some smaller stakes for pepper plants. Anyone know what this could be? Leaves are horizontally opposed then the next set is at right angles to the first.

Don't know what it is, but I'd like a few seeds if you can collect some!

Now that I think about it.... maybe it's Jerusalem Artichoke? I could be wrong.

Thanks TomatoNut. I think Applestar mentioned something about Jerusalem Artichoke too, when I posted some photos in my 2019 garden photo thread. I'm not real familiar with it, but will save you some seeds.

I'm thinking maybe they are propagated from the tuber(?) sort of like iris are, if they are J. Artichokes.

Thanks! Can you dig up one or some of the plants to see if there are tubers? That should prove if they really are Jerusalem Artichoke.

I have never seen Jerusalem artichoke petals quilled like that:



and yes, J.a.'s are propagated from the tuber.

So, the plants will not produce seeds? Or, if they did produce seeds, would they not be viable if they're propagated mainly from their tubers?

stands of jerusalem artichoke grown from a single variety will not pollinate and won't make viable seed. wild stands where there are multiple genetic individuals usually cross pollinate well and produce (a lot of) viable seed. viable seed requires cross-pollination.

that said, this doesn't look like j.a. to me. worth digging some up to know for sure though!

I agree the zoomed up, narrow blade like petals don’t look right for Jerusalem artichoke. I keep thinking I’ve seen this before somewhere but so far casually looking around and plugging in possible keywords haven’t yielded results.

... I think it was probably in Prairie Moon Nursery catalog though. I’ll look when I get the chance.

Thanks for the responses. It is a very interesting plant and quite striking in a large bed. Love the uses for the dried stems/shoots.

When I get a chance I'm gonna dig down and see what the roots are like. If I were to dig up some roots what should they look like if it is JA? Ginger root?

I would think it have some sort of large tuberous root if it were truly JA.

Well. I finally managed to dig up a plant or 2 and these tubers/rhizomes were underneath the plant just below ground level. Maybe this is Jerusalem Artichoke after all? Guess I need to plant these out for next year in a different location and see what happens. Reminds me of iris growing really close to the surface.

Ah. Then perhaps it is JA. Well then don't worry about sending me seeds then since JA's seeds aren't viable.