Help with plant identification

Last post 05-05-2012 8:32 PM by jgara. 16 replies.

• 20/04/2012 07:54 PM
  jgara Location: Joined on: 20 Apr 2012 Posts: 3	Reply | Contact Hi, Does anyone know what this shrub is - it is growing feral in my front garden & wondering whether to dig it up or persevere. http://www.flickr.com/photos/11842339@N08/7096876999/in/photostream  http://www.flickr.com/photos/11842339@N08/7096876995/in/photostream Thanks for you help, Jon

• 21/04/2012 12:17 PM	In reply to
  AlexS Location: Reading Joined on: 06 Sep 2009 Posts: 499	Reply | Contact Hi Jon, I don't know what this is. In case no-one else can tell you, I'd say it looks like a member of the lonicera family. Many Loniceras self-seed quite freely too. It also looks as if it's soon to flower, which should help make identification easier. Hope this helps. Alex

• 23/04/2012 12:28 PM	In reply to
  Silver surfer Location: South Wales. U.K. Joined on: 09 Jun 2008 Posts: 1,392	Reply | Contact Welcome Jon. Hmm! have given this some thought but I am stuck! Where is pic taken? Please can you add a very clear pic to this thread, showing the flowers when they open.  Your mystery plant has alternate leaves . Lonicera are opposite leaves , which rules it out.

• 23/04/2012 02:53 PM

  In reply to

  courierdude Location: cambs/suffolk border Joined on: 14 Feb 2012 Posts: 211

  Reply | Contact strangely enough i have this plant growing in my garden, though it is being stifled by huge lonicera canes that have very nearly covered it. the stems are pretty much cane like themselves and the flowers are like those of spirea-also like spirea are the profile of the stems which are ridged and not round. i have a few summer flowering spirea and although the young unfurling leaves on this plant are quite different im thinking it is a spring flowering spirea arguta or albiflora? the top photo is the periclymenum suffocating the mystery plant in question, the lighter leaves poking through being the 'spirea' (?), the darker leaves the honeysuckle-i know-once the honeysuckle flowers its time for the chop and some repositioning or to pull the 'spirea' out from below. energy follows thought

• 23/04/2012 03:58 PM	In reply to
  Snark Location: Suffolk Joined on: 12 Jan 2011 Posts: 264	Reply | Contact Looks a bit like a deciduous berberis to me but not as spiny as most For the Snark was a boojum you see

• 23/04/2012 04:24 PM	In reply to
  courierdude Location: cambs/suffolk border Joined on: 14 Feb 2012 Posts: 211	Reply | Contact well mine has zero spines and judging by the spent flower heads in the the original posters pics i'd say that their plant has none either. ...plus, if youve ever been weeding around the bottom of berberis shrubs, you learn very quickly what it is that is stabbing under your fingernails every 2 seconds! ) energy follows thought

• 23/04/2012 06:27 PM

  In reply to

  Silver surfer Location: South Wales. U.K. Joined on: 09 Jun 2008 Posts: 1,392

  Reply | Contact I am getting very confused. In the first post by jgara I am seeing pink buds  waiting to open. ... or so I thought. I cannot think of any Berberis that do not have spines. The flowers on Berberis are always yellow or orange. https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Berberis&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&oe=utf8&redir_esc=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=KpGVT4zSA6W70QXet5jTAQ&biw=1072&bih=516&sei=LJGVT-3cMLSU0QXl2bGEAg#um=1&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=Berberis+spines&oq=Berberis+spines&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_nf=1&gs_l=img.12...9327.11632.0.13611.7.7.0.4.4.0.99.284.3.3.0.e-qesyTqH84&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=4bc665acb0e8c7ff&biw=1072&bih=516

• 23/04/2012 07:00 PM	In reply to
  courierdude Location: cambs/suffolk border Joined on: 14 Feb 2012 Posts: 211	Reply | Contact there does seem to be flower buds in the original pics, they may appear pink when they first appear and there are even cultivars of spirea arguta that are pink. but on the first pic from jgara you can see the spent heads from the previous years flowering that are definitely spirea like. energy follows thought

• 23/04/2012 07:32 PM

  In reply to

  Silver surfer Location: South Wales. U.K. Joined on: 09 Jun 2008 Posts: 1,392

  Reply | Contact I am going cross eyed with the first pic, but am still unable to see any spent flowers from 2011. There are several Spiraea sp that do have pink flowers. However Spiraea Arguta is always white Ours flowered a few weeks ago. https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&pwst=1&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&q=spiraea+arguta&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&wrapid=tlif133520570815810&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=V5-VT_yMMYTB0QWF_5jvAQ&biw=1072&bih=516&sei=Z5-VT76RM-eS0QX0zK3eAQ

• 23/04/2012 10:24 PM	In reply to
  courierdude Location: cambs/suffolk border Joined on: 14 Feb 2012 Posts: 211	Reply | Contact there is a Spiraea X arguta Grefsheim that has very pink buds, though if you have an arguta yourself you can compare the 2 better than me or if it does has pink flowers could be the korean spiraea fritschiana 'Pink Parasols'?..heres a pic of jons mystery plant spent flower head energy follows thought

• 23/04/2012 11:09 PM

  In reply to

  Silver surfer Location: South Wales. U.K. Joined on: 09 Jun 2008 Posts: 1,392

  Reply | Contact Correct name is Spiraea x cinerea Grefsheim. It could well be a match for the leaf arrangement.  http://www.about-garden.com/ei/en/00905-B1-meadowsweet/ . https://www.google.co.uk/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=647&gbv=2&oq=spiraea+x+cinerea+grefsheim+&aq=f&aqi=&gs_nf=1&gs_l=img.12...5031.5031.0.6764.1.1.0.0.0.0.62.62.1.1.0.yvK8P0JpHX8&q=spiraea%20x%20cinerea%20grefsheim&orq=spiraea+x+cinerea+grefsheim+ Thanks for enlarging pics. I assumed it was a dead twig, the brown blobs being dead buds rather than flowers from 2011.

• 24/04/2012 09:27 AM

  In reply to

  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 9,463

  Reply | Contact  Sorry to throw a spanner in the works on this one but I don't think it's a Spirea Grefsheim, I have this plant in my garden and have just been outside and got wet slippers taking some photos of it The plant in Jon's post shows some leaves under the flower buds and I had to look very hard to find any leaves under the flower buds on mine but did eventually find this one Also the leaves on the main plant are a different shape, on Grefsheim, the leaves are longer and narrower   A not so good pic of spent flowers and finally, a pic of when it was in full flower at the beginning of the month   sue1002

• 24/04/2012 09:48 AM

  In reply to

  Silver surfer Location: South Wales. U.K. Joined on: 09 Jun 2008 Posts: 1,392

  Reply | Contact Thanks Sue for the pics of your superb one.  I too had my doubts, as my book says S. x c. Grefsheim is  an early flowering one ... before Spiraea Arguta.  But we still do not know where the shrub is. Maybe if it is in north of Scotland, I though  it would produce flowers later than here.Hence my first question to Jon. Jon,I would still like to see pic of those flower buds when they open. We need more input from you!!!

• 26/04/2012 05:31 PM	In reply to
  courierdude Location: cambs/suffolk border Joined on: 14 Feb 2012 Posts: 211	Reply | Contact well i now know mine is a spirea nipponica snowmound! (hurrah!)-flowers may/june energy follows thought

• 27/04/2012 02:10 PM	In reply to
  jgara Location: Joined on: 20 Apr 2012 Posts: 3	Reply | Contact Hi, sorry been away. Am located in Hertfordshire & the plant looks very much like the one in the picture posted by courierdude. Jon