On 2008-06-17 19:00:42 +0100, (Nick Maclaren) said:


In article 200806171808148930-adm1@fastmailfm, adm writes:
|
| first is a big woody bush/hedge type thing with nasty spikes and
| berries that birds seem to like. It appears to have spread via suckers
| - it's up against one wall of my house and is beginning to cover up
| some windows, so what is it and how far can it be cut back?

Pyracantha, almost certainly, and one of its close relatives if not.
HARD. Even now.

Righty ho then......that's good because I've been out with the loppers
and petrol hedge trimmer this evening....

It certainly seems to be a pyracantha now I've googled it....and I
don't feel so bad about cutting most of it away.


| The second - well. I don't quite know how to describe it - the leaves
| are quite attractive, but I don't like the look of the flower bud?
| spears....any idea. This is also a bit messed up from bed clearance,
| but if the flowers are going to do something nice, I'll see if it can
| be salvaged!

An Arum, I think, and definitely an aroid. I doubt that the flowers
are up to much. It may be a variety of the common wild one (A. maculatum,
Lords and Ladies, Cuckoo Spit) with more marked leaves than the usual
form. Anyway, it will be grown for the leaves.

Aha - looks like this: Arum Italicum

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:C...ves_2000px.jpg

Now you have named it, I remember seeing these flower spikes last year:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:A..._%28aka%29.jpg

which are apparently highly poisonous.

Still- the leaves are quite attractive.

Thanks everybody for the help on all of these - there may well be a few
more of these "worrisits" as I slowly uncover my garden beds. I moved
into a big old victorian house on the surrey/sussex borders three years
ago, and with three small kids to contend with, we've just managed to
get the house structurally sound, got the lawn sorted(ish) and are now
working on the neglected beds.

All in all, it seems we have a lot of good, mature plants and shrubs
but nothing has been done for years and a lot of them have either got
buried in the weeds, or gone mental....