On Mar 16, 4:33*pm, Spider wrote:
On 16/03/2012 11:29, zoebee87 wrote:



Thanks for your replies i did think it could be an apple tree...those
little horrid crab apples i sometimes find them on my drive way...

we used to have two dogs, a male and a female...both Boxers but we just
have the female now but she rarely goes into the main garden as we block
it off with the wheelie bins...just the odd time she sneaks in when the
bins are out when im busy with housework, we have a large paved area at
the side of the house in front of the garage that she uses 99% of the
time we're planning on getting a proper gate to block it off. i dont
like her going in the main garden because whenever she does...she goes
over to the corner on the right and starts pawing as if shes trying to
uncover something...if i try and move her away she growls at me a
little..its as if she can smell something...before we lost our male they
had spotted a hedgehog in the early hours one morning..we had thought
the barking was down to there being an actual intruder..when we let them
both out to "see it off" Toby came back and dumped this massive hedgehog
on the backdoor step! it was gone the morning after but is it possible
that its living in this corner? if so...now what do i do?

im not sure about the magnolia..is this the bush with funny brownish
petals? if so thats in our garden. if not then i have no clue ha! im so
rubbish at this...but i need to get a move on because my nosey neighbour
likes to complain about how she doesnt like looking at my messy garden
:/

Iv uploaded 2 close ups of the corners if this would make identification
easier?

We plan on doing it all ourselves as well honestly we need a project
that we can do together away from our mummy and daddy roles and i felt
that this was a good way to go about that. Our son goes to his nana's
every weekend for a sleep over so this is the best time for us to get
cracking...starting tomorrow

i am planning on getting rid of the ivy but im unsure of where its
actual roots will be...erm on the far left it looks like at the back of
the garage leading onto my neighbours garden...if i spray it and then it
turns out to be their ivy thats just taken advantage of my garage walls
then im in trouble arent i? but i hate the ivy it just looks very dated
and untidy. perhaps i should knock on and ask...hopefully it isnt theirs
and i can get rid of it!

Again thanks for your replies ]

Zoe

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The shrub with yellow raggedy petals is probably a Forsythia.
The rounded evergreen just about to break into flower is Skimmia, a
lovely shrub.
The other I'm not sure of; I thought hydrangea, but the flowers look
relatively large for that, but it's still possible.
All of them are good shrubs when looked after. *You can cut the
Forsythia back quite hard now (after flowering, in other words). *The
wood it then puts on will flower next year, so don't prune it again
until after next spring's flowers.
The Skimmia shouldn't need pruning. *Just snip away any damaged bits.
If the last shrub is a Hydrangea, you can cut it back now to just above
a strong pair of buds on each branch. *Any dead growth can also go.
If you don't want the ivy, pull or dig it out of the ground your side,
then continue to remove growth attached to your fence. *There will still
be growth on the other side if it's their plant (ivy is perfectly
capapble of rooting both sides, so ownership can be hard to
distinguish). *If it isn't theirs, it's none of their business.

By all means have a friendly chat with your neighbours. *They may even
be able to help you identify plants.

--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Let's start with the first picture, the RHS of your garden
The main shrub is Forsythia(Yellow flowers) and it looks as if a few
twigs of your apple tree are also showing,
I would say that the last occupants planted a variegated Ivy 90% or
more of which has now reverted to green, not worth keeping,
Now the second picture LHS of the garden
Another Forsythis (Yellow flowers) planted in front of a Skimmia (this
will have clusters of small white flowers) The other twigs I wouldn't
like to say at this stage.
The flowers in the background still intrigue me.
I am supprised that no one else picked up on your Bitch, the burned
patches of grass are a giveaway and the dog droppings as well.
As for her wanting to dig in the corner, I wonder if they burried a
dead cat or something in that corner and she can still smell it.
David @ the normally wet end of Swansea Bay, now in the 7th day of
drought.