On Sat, 14 Sep 2019 17:33:41 Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:

On 14/09/2019 17:03, Nick Maclaren wrote:

It looks like a Cornus (dogwood), but I am no expert on them.

Looks rather like Cornus sanguinea (few pairs of leaf veins, black
berries). This is said to reach 4m in height.

Interesting. I'd never thought of that. I'm familiar with Cornus Alba
Elegantissima (the variegated one) as I've had that in previous gardens.
And I know that, in order to get the display of red stems it has to be
cut back regularly otherwise it just looks rather ordinary in the
winter.

On looking up Cornus Sanguina I see that it, too, should have a display
of red stems (obviously because of the name!) yet I've never seen that
on my neighbour's. In fact, I wondered why on earth it had been planted
because it is such a dull looking and invasive shrub.

But it does explain why the previous owner planted it many years ago. He
was a very keen gardener and kept his shrubs well pruned, thus I never
saw it because of the solid fence between our gardens. This neighbour
died and his house was pulled down a good ten years ago and a new one
built in its place, though the builders left the garden as it was. The
present owner is not a keen gardener and does no pruning, thus his
shrubs are now very much overgrown and I have to prune back regularly
the branches that overhang my garden.

Anyway thanks, Nick and Stewart, for that very quick identification. On
reading the Wiki article it does seem to describe perfectly what I have
here.

David

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David Rance writing from Caversham, Reading, UK