My next door neighbour has one, the fragrance travels to our balcony at night. I bought mine because of the smell.
Gotcha!
@naf What is the blue flower? I love that color.
ETA Are you saying that from the lettuce? Can you trace it all the way down to where it’s emerging?
It reminds me of a cornflower, or maybe some other “wildflower”.
OK, I post this again. I looked at them again, 2 lettuces that have blue flowers.
Lettuce 1:
Young, before flowering
Leaves now
Flower
Lettuce 2
Leaves now
Flower
I’ve read that the lettuces is probably a cross with chicory or it is a chicory.
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I’ve got one that’s similar, but was in a bouquet I bought. Thought it was maybe a bachelor button. Will post pic in the Good News thread, a bit later. Behind on everything…
I think they might be the same thing.
Wow! That’s interesting! Does it taste good?
I found this
Mulgedium Oblongifolium, Blue Lettuce Plants > Wildflowers > Asteraceae > Mulgedium Oblongifolium
Doesn’t look quite the same.
I just found that! The leaves don’t seem the same.
Not at all.
Think,so too @shrinkrap; being not a gardener, not familiar with botanical names of most things, no time to research this am. G/F baking session & lunch planned.
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Yours are much bigger flowers, with a thicker stem.
Those flowers close at the end of the day, I just went out to look at the leaves, today was cloudy, the flowers were closing.
One tasted like lettuce, the other one was more bitter.
I will sow the lettuces again soon, maybe this time I can find out which one makes the blue flowers.
We have a special name for that plant - translates to “queen of the night.” Absolutely my favorite fragrance ever. Takes me right back to my grandparents’ yard, where I first smelled it.
Also a snake magnet, apparently 
Naf, Without a doubt, those flowers are Chicory, not lettuce. They are related, but I’ve not heard/seen of a legitimate hybrid. Chicory is an extremely diverse group; you find an amazing variety of growth habits and leaf types. I grow a bunch of them, Variegata di Castelfranco, Rossa di Treviso 3, and others. Some have lettuce-like leaves, others are filly and extremely deeply cut or curled (Chichorium endivia crispum), a.k.a. Frisée. Radicchio is another chicory. Another’s roots are sold as the coffee like beverage.
I’m not sure the scientific separation of C. intybus and C. endivia is legitimate; it appears they really represent human selections. Both have identical flowers. Flower color ranges from blue (most common) to pink and white. I drive by millions of wild ones, growing in the fields of Virginia, and have seen all three colors.
Most chicories get extremely bitter in hot weather. Some need severe cold to be at their best (Radicchio). I grow them during summer, where they form big plants. Then, after frost kills most of the leaves back, I dig the roots up, clean off the dead foliage, replant the roots in tight rows and bury them deep in dry straw. The straw mound is covered with plastic to keep it dry. During December-Feb. the roots regrow tops in very cold weather and transform under conditions of no light (much like Belgian Endive, another chicory). The bitterness vanishes or is greatly reduced. Leaves go from green to white, pale yellow, cream, some with red markings. Some form tight heads, others loose ones. The flavors get nutty, delicious! They are also beautiful. The long season and labor explains why radicchios and Belgian endive are more expensive.
It’s said this under straw method was developed by the Italians, who put the chicories under straw to preserve them. Visit any Italian seed vendor and you’ll find a variety of chicories; the Italians did to chicory what the Chinese did to Asian Cabbages-went nuts breeding different types. There’s even a “Sugar Loaf” chicory that looks a lot like Nappa.
In any case, chicory tastes best when grown cold, 33-50 F ( 0.6-10 C). They are often perennial or short-lived perennial. I do not know if flowering effects flavor if you try to “cold-force” them the following winter.
Incidentally, if anyone wants to try the straw method, you must allow some vent in the plastic so the straw does not get wet from soil moisture condensing; open the vents during mild, sunny, dry weather to dry out the straw. This year, I may try metal hoops, covered with plastic, then black weed cloth (to block sunlight), two layers as a grow cover. Inside, instead of straw, foam blanket may be easier, and I can set mouse traps!
It’s wonderful to get salad greens in the dead of winter!
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Uh oh on the snake magnet aspect. Snakes creep me out, unless I see them in a part of a zoo, and are expecting to see them @Saregama. Always have that fear when I’m picking blackberries, especially.
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Harvested 2.5 lbs of gorgeous garlic scapes today. Unfortunately, I found a few rotting bulbs as well, but I was able to dig them out without disturbing their neighbors. Has anyone ever cooked with the stalks? After peeling off the rotted layers there was still quite a bit of green under there, with a leek-like texture.
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I have not, but it’s mentioned in the link above about green garlic above.
Here’s my recently pulled garlic. Creole red (Creole).
Looks great! Upon further inspection and tasting of my stalks, I realized that the outer layers were very fibrous and didn’t have much flavor - makes sense, since those are the parts that will eventually dry to paper. The scape itself, though, stayed tender nearly down to the bulb (or where the bulb should have been) - only the bottom two inches or so were woody. I’m glad at least something was salvageable from those bulbs that didn’t make it!
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@biondanonima, I hope you will share what you do with all your beautiful scapes.
