What are these 2 plants, any ideas?

[Longingforthesummer]

Purple one is tall and the other has big pink flowers

If you have an iPhone or ipad you can take a photo and press the i in the circle at the top and it will name the plant for you.

MN these days is awash with not even remotely plausible plant identifications. I blame the plant apps.

Pink one is peony - the characteristic leaves of peony are clearly visible and there is no sign of the delicate foliage of Cosmos.

If you look at the single spire of the purple one against the fence, you can make out the “snapdragon” type flower. Therefore purple toadflax, Linaria purpurea. More weight is given to this by the pink spike on the left - Linaria purpurea has a pink form which is very common

Pink cosmos and purple Veronica?

No, and no.

Cosmos has feathery leaves and Veronica doesn’t have snapdragon like flowers.

Gosh you really can tell how many people just use plant apps!! The pink one is definitely a peony and absolutely not cosmos. Look at the leaves!

Get an app called picture this and run it through the identifier.

Step away from the plant apps, people.

Purple flowered on looks like russian sage. Are the leaves aromatic?

I'm really not sure why anyone bothers posting once @MereDintofPandiculation has confirmed

I’m really not sure why anyone bothers posting when they clearly don’t know - the plant they’re suggesting has different flowers and/or foliage, wouldn’t be in flower now etc etc. These mis-identifications are no help to the OP and derail the thread. Yes, I am getting grumpy about this.

You haven't read the thread, have you?

Careful! I'm far from infallible!

What worries me is once several people have posted a misidentification, whether based on an app or just on colour, if the OP just "counts votes" they may go away with completely the wrong name. That's why I usually post at length justifying my id, and also why I often respond to wrong answers and explain why it can't be that. I'm not trying to put people down, just trying to give the OP the relevant information to make up their own mind as to which id is the correct one.

What bothers me about the misidentifications (and the misplaced faith in plant apps) is the risk of someone eating deadly nightshade because we identify any plant dot com told them it was a raspberry. It’s not a huge risk but it’s not impossible.

That, of course. But then there's the risk of the same happening because someone's neighbour/a random on the internet has given them the wrong id.

Yes those plant ID apps are ridiculously inaccurate and misleading. It's a peony: paeonia anomala and linaria purpurea. Ex garden journalist and owner of a specialist plant nursery here. Note pedantic use of RHS approved italics to prove it. Time to listen to the grown ups.

Someone misidentified a plant as Stevia the other day which could have been dangerous if it had been believed.

Bideshi is right. Time to make a banner saying listen to the grown ups in RHS-approved italics.

Well, I didn’t read the full thread when I commented to use an app admittedly (and I do feel chastised for it by whoever pointed it out) but I haven’t found the app I use to be too bad to be honest.
’Listen to the grown ups’ is a bit patronising. I’m 41 and like to use an app. I’m never going to hold the National collection of whatever but I like plants and find apps useful in conjunction with books to identify things I like the look of.

I find the Apple photo app pretty accurate (I test it a lot on plants I already know). But, it needs to be a clear, close-up photo, taken in good light with both foliage and flowers if at all possible, and no other plants in the same shot. And definitely double check elsewhere before eating anything.

and find apps useful in conjunction with books to identify things I like the look of. That’s how they should be used. In conjunction with other sources of information. Too many PP say “get this app - it will identify it for you”.

@Mouthfulofquiz I actually did hold a national collection (still hold a back-up), and I have also written some the books you might have turned to. Yes it was patronising, but honestly, why do people comment when they evidently have no idea what they're talking about, and won't be told? I tested one app on about a hundred of the plants I have growing here. It batted at about 30% accuracy and some of the answers were risible.

No plant apps I promise; been gardening too long! Peony as ID'd by another post (Paeonia anomala) and linaria purpurea: bees and hoverflies love linaria (you might even get a rare wool carder bee and his harem as it's one of their food plants).

Sadly I cannot grow it here in my current garden in damp, rather acid soil, but it loves warm soil and will tolerate dry spots like at the bottom of a S-facing wall - it will self seed everywhere!

What about one thread for plant ID with no apps allowed in the title? Then people can pop on with pictures and whoever around at the time can have a go or not if they don’t know, someone is bound to.