Hi All,

I'm blitzing a flowerbed that has been overgrown for a few years, and
have found three plants that i'd like to know more about.

http://www.dentonmiller.net/Site/Stu...se_plants.html

1)

A nice little shrub

2) A tall thin thing with nice coloured leaves

3) A rather leggy and leafy thing with very bright purple indigo
flowers that stain quite badly if you touch them.....

Any ideas? The shrub is obviously a keeper, but I'm not sure about the
others....

On Jun 17, 4:39 pm, adm wrote:
Hi All,

I'm blitzing a flowerbed that has been overgrown for a few years, and
have found three plants that i'd like to know more about.

http://www.dentonmiller.net/Site/Stu...7_What_are_the...

1)

A nice little shrub

2) A tall thin thing with nice coloured leaves

3) A rather leggy and leafy thing with very bright purple indigo
flowers that stain quite badly if you touch them.....

Any ideas? The shrub is obviously a keeper, but I'm not sure about the
others....

the blue thing is a Tradescantia. Why would you not want to keep it?
Nice blue flowers?

On 2008-06-17 16:50:25 +0100, Des Higgins said:

On Jun 17, 4:39 pm, adm wrote:
Hi All,

I'm blitzing a flowerbed that has been overgrown for a few years, and
have found three plants that i'd like to know more about.

http://www.dentonmiller.net/Site/Stu...7_What_are_the...

1)

A nice little shrub

2) A tall thin thing with nice coloured leaves

3) A rather leggy and leafy thing with very bright purple indigo
flowers that stain quite badly if you touch them.....

Any ideas? The shrub is obviously a keeper, but I'm not sure about the
others....

the blue thing is a Tradescantia. Why would you not want to keep it?
Nice blue flowers?

Well - it's got a rather high leaf to flower ration and is a bit tatty.
Nothing that can't be repaired though I'd imagine - after all, it's
been covered by nettles and weeds for a while. The flowers are
certainly nice....but they don't half stain children!

We'll keep it!

On 17/6/08 16:56, in article 2008061716560916807-adm1@fastmailfm, "adm"
wrote:

On 2008-06-17 16:50:25 +0100, Des Higgins said:

On Jun 17, 4:39 pm, adm wrote:
Hi All,

I'm blitzing a flowerbed that has been overgrown for a few years, and
have found three plants that i'd like to know more about.

http://www.dentonmiller.net/Site/Stu...7_What_are_the...

1)

A nice little shrub

2) A tall thin thing with nice coloured leaves

3) A rather leggy and leafy thing with very bright purple indigo
flowers that stain quite badly if you touch them.....

Any ideas? The shrub is obviously a keeper, but I'm not sure about the
others....

the blue thing is a Tradescantia. Why would you not want to keep it?
Nice blue flowers?

Well - it's got a rather high leaf to flower ration and is a bit tatty.
Nothing that can't be repaired though I'd imagine - after all, it's
been covered by nettles and weeds for a while. The flowers are
certainly nice....but they don't half stain children!

We'll keep it!



It will look a lot better next year. ;-)
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online but not completed - shop to come and some mild tweaking
to do!)

On 2008-06-17 17:03:55 +0100, Sacha said:

On 17/6/08 16:56, in article 2008061716560916807-adm1@fastmailfm, "adm"
wrote:

On 2008-06-17 16:50:25 +0100, Des Higgins said:

On Jun 17, 4:39 pm, adm wrote:
Hi All,

I'm blitzing a flowerbed that has been overgrown for a few years, and
have found three plants that i'd like to know more about.

http://www.dentonmiller.net/Site/Stu...7_What_are_the...

1)

A nice little shrub

2) A tall thin thing with nice coloured leaves

3) A rather leggy and leafy thing with very bright purple indigo
flowers that stain quite badly if you touch them.....

Any ideas? The shrub is obviously a keeper, but I'm not sure about the
others....

the blue thing is a Tradescantia. Why would you not want to keep it?
Nice blue flowers?

Well - it's got a rather high leaf to flower ration and is a bit tatty.
Nothing that can't be repaired though I'd imagine - after all, it's
been covered by nettles and weeds for a while. The flowers are
certainly nice....but they don't half stain children!

We'll keep it!



It will look a lot better next year. ;-)

I just read that you are meant to cut it down to the ground once it's
done flowering for the year. Does that sound about right ?

On 17/6/08 16:39, in article 2008061716393316807-adm1@fastmailfm, "adm"
wrote:

Hi All,

I'm blitzing a flowerbed that has been overgrown for a few years, and
have found three plants that i'd like to know more about.

http://www.dentonmiller.net/Site/Stu...e_these_plants
.html

1)

A nice little shrub

2) A tall thin thing with nice coloured leaves

3) A rather leggy and leafy thing with very bright purple indigo
flowers that stain quite badly if you touch them.....

Any ideas? The shrub is obviously a keeper, but I'm not sure about the
others....


Not sure but a close up would help - the shrub might be a Pittosporum, the
red thing is, perhaps, a Photinia and the purple thing is a highly desirable
and very beautiful Tradescantia, possibly T. andersoniana. Here's a link to
Cerney, which has a National Collection
http://www.cerneygardens.com/default...escantiaCollec
tion.asp
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online but not completed - shop to come and some mild tweaking
to do!)

On 2008-06-17 16:53:49 +0100, Sacha said:

On 17/6/08 16:39, in article 2008061716393316807-adm1@fastmailfm, "adm"
wrote:

Hi All,

I'm blitzing a flowerbed that has been overgrown for a few years, and
have found three plants that i'd like to know more about.

http://www.dentonmiller.net/Site/Stu...e_these_plants
.html

1)

A nice little shrub

2) A tall thin thing with nice coloured leaves

3) A rather leggy and leafy thing with very bright purple indigo
flowers that stain quite badly if you touch them.....

Any ideas? The shrub is obviously a keeper, but I'm not sure about the
others....


Not sure but a close up would help - the shrub might be a Pittosporum, the
red thing is, perhaps, a Photinia and the purple thing is a highly desirable
and very beautiful Tradescantia, possibly T. andersoniana. Here's a link to
Cerney, which has a National Collection
http://www.cerneygardens.com/default...escantiaCollec
tion.asp

Thanks. I've zoomed the photos of the first two a bit:

http://www.dentonmiller.net/Site/Stu...se_plants.html

On 2008-06-17 17:31:21 +0100, adm said:

On 2008-06-17 16:53:49 +0100, Sacha said:

On 17/6/08 16:39, in article 2008061716393316807-adm1@fastmailfm, "adm"
wrote:

Hi All,

I'm blitzing a flowerbed that has been overgrown for a few years, and
have found three plants that i'd like to know more about.

http://www.dentonmiller.net/Site/Stu...e_these_plants
.html

1)

A nice little shrub

2) A tall thin thing with nice coloured leaves

3) A rather leggy and leafy thing with very bright purple indigo
flowers that stain quite badly if you touch them.....

Any ideas? The shrub is obviously a keeper, but I'm not sure about the
others....


Not sure but a close up would help - the shrub might be a Pittosporum, the
red thing is, perhaps, a Photinia and the purple thing is a highly desirable
and very beautiful Tradescantia, possibly T. andersoniana. Here's a link to
Cerney, which has a National Collection
http://www.cerneygardens.com/default...escantiaCollec
tion.asp

Thanks. I've zoomed the photos of the first two a bit:

http://www.dentonmiller.net/Site/Stu...se_plants.html


Cheers

for the answers so far.....now I've got a couple mo

http://www.dentonmiller.net/Site/Stu...orrisits!.html

The

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?

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!

thanks in advance.....


Alasdair

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.

| 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.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

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....

.


1: Pyracantha - can be cut back as hard as you like and kept trimmed. Very very useful for keeping intruders out. You will lose a couple of years of flowers and berries, but they will start coming again as the plant adjusts.

2: Arum maculatam [also known as italicum]. Grown for its winter leaves, can be quite stunning. If you don't want the flowers/berries, just take them off when they start.

Sacha writes

the
red thing is, perhaps, a Photinia

Definitely not. On seeing the larger version, I'm more convinced that
it's the Lysimachia.

and the purple thing is a highly desirable
and very beautiful Tradescantia, possibly T. andersoniana.

Yep.

--
Kay

On 17/6/08 22:05, in article , "K"
wrote:

Sacha writes

the
red thing is, perhaps, a Photinia

Definitely not. On seeing the larger version, I'm more convinced that
it's the Lysimachia.

I've missed something or mis-read it. Which Lysimachia, Kay and which
larger version?


--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online but not completed - shop to come and some mild tweaking
to do!)

Sacha writes
On 17/6/08 22:05, in article , "K"
wrote:

Sacha writes

the
red thing is, perhaps, a Photinia

Definitely not. On seeing the larger version, I'm more convinced that
it's the Lysimachia.

I've missed something or mis-read it. Which Lysimachia, Kay

Yellow loosestrife. eg 'Firecracker'.

and which
larger version?

He reposted the link and said he'd made the pics a bit larger




--
Kay

On 18/6/08 21:32, in article , "K"
wrote:

Sacha writes
On 17/6/08 22:05, in article , "K"
wrote:

Sacha writes

the
red thing is, perhaps, a Photinia

Definitely not. On seeing the larger version, I'm more convinced that
it's the Lysimachia.

I've missed something or mis-read it. Which Lysimachia, Kay

Yellow loosestrife. eg 'Firecracker'.

Could well be but I thought the leaves of that were a bit more plum coloured
- new growth might be the answer to that.

and which
larger version?

He reposted the link and said he'd made the pics a bit larger

Thanks, don't think I've seen that for some reason.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online but not completed - shop to come and some mild tweaking
to do!)