Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:

writes

I got a photo of a rather chesty looking lady when I looked at the
first plant photo yesterday. It wasn't blatant, but it probably
wasn't something I wanted on my screen at work.

Was it an ad, or was it another pic hosted on tinypic? They offer you
random pictures from your server ("Images You'll Also Enjoy")

When I looked there was a banner ad with several small images, one of
which was of a woman in a bikini.

Frankly, I was a bit disappointed...

--
Chris

Agree with other ids. Depending on how much space you have, in order of usefulness I'd keep:

a) blackthorn for sloe gin (though you can usually gather enough from hedgerows so it's a luxury really) It also flowers early, before the leaves, which cheers one up in spring. But if you're limited for space, remove it in due course and replace with something else.

b) hawthorn - like the sloe, it's in the rose family, which are usually non-toxic. I'd be keeping it for the birds, which keep down pests and improve the health and crop bearing of your other plants. But again, if you're pushed for space, replace it by another fruit tree.

c) I'd keep the woody nightshade - the berries are so beautiful as they turn from green to yellow to red, with a sort of translucent glow. But totally non-useful for you, and toxic. (Once when I was ill as a young child and awaiting a doctor's visit, my mother warned me to remove the vase of woody nightshade from beside me bed, in case he got the wrong idea ;-) )

d) the sycamore will be nothing but trouble - get rid asap.

Elderberries aren't bad if you mix them with apples.

Elderflowers are worth having, either as elderflower fritters or added into rhubarb. Then there's elderflower cordaial and elder flower wine, and of course eldeberry wine.

I can't think of a toxic berry 3/4 - 1in dia, which isn't to say there isn't one. But if you want a firmer id post pics of a branch and an individual leaf, and of the fruit cut in half.

On Jul 27, 12:11*pm, kay wrote:
NT;931170 Wrote:

Hi

I'm new here, and I hope I can ask about the identity of 4 plants I've
found in garden, which might well turn out to be quite handy to keep,
depending what they are. Basically I'm looking for food bearing
species.

Agree with other ids. Depending on how much space you have, in order of
usefulness I'd keep:

a) blackthorn for sloe gin (though you can usually gather enough from
hedgerows so it's a luxury really) It also flowers early, before the
leaves, which cheers one up in spring. But if you're limited for space,
remove it in due course and replace with something else.

b) hawthorn - like the sloe, it's in the rose family, which are usually
non-toxic. I'd be keeping it for the birds, which keep down pests and
improve the health and crop bearing of your other plants. But again, if
you're pushed for space, replace it by another fruit tree.

c) I'd keep the woody nightshade - the berries are so beautiful as they
turn from green to yellow to red, with a sort of translucent glow. *But
totally non-useful for you, and toxic. (Once when I was ill as a young
child and awaiting a doctor's visit, my mother warned me to remove the
vase of woody nightshade from beside me bed, in case he got the wrong
idea ;-) *)

d) the sycamore will be nothing but trouble *- get rid asap.

Thanks to everyone.


NT

"Martin Brown" wrote in message
...
On 26/07/2011 22:50, wrote:
Chris wrote:
4. Probably an unripe sloe, the fruit of the Blackthorn (Prunus
spinosa). Fruit will eventually ripen to a blue-black. Not poisonous,
but extremely bitter. You only ever bite into one; never a second!

But goes very nicely with gin (and some sugar, and about a year ... which
reminds me, time to turn the bottles over)

But wait for the first frost before harvesting and prick the berries. It
goes through a stage of looking like pink paraffin but tastes wonderfully
aromatic when mature. I find it is better with slightly less sugar than
some of the published recipes. And just inverting the bottles once every
couple of months is enough mixing. YMMV

I've made sloe gin a few times. Legend has it that you must prick them with
a silver needle for best results (so I did that by borrowing a silver brooch
and using the pin)
I agree a bit less sugar than published recipes, but be very careful about
leaving the sloes too long in the gin before straining them out otherwise it
gets a horrible bitter taste from the kernel. Even more so if you do it
with damsons which also make great flavoured gin.
I tended to shake mine up about once a fortnight at first but much less
often further into the brew.

Tina

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 26 Jul 2011 13:44:48 -0700 (PDT), NT
wrote:

Hi

I'm new here, and I hope I can ask about the identity of 4 plants I've
found in garden, which might well turn out to be quite handy to keep,
depending what they are. Basically I'm looking for food bearing
species.

First things first: don't use sites with sex ads thrown in -- not to
be trusted.

pointy red berries, which I suspect are toxic:
http://tinypic.com/r/29g2693/7

Bittersweet, or Woody Nightshade. Solanum dulcamara. Toxic.

red berries with a roughish end, about quarter inch across - they
ripen red
http://tinypic.com/r/i3e2zb/7

The haws which give hawthorn its name. Not much to eat on them, as the
seed is relatively big, and the flesh is tasteless. I don't think
they're toxic, buit I did once read a suggestion that they were
suspect.

They make really good wine, so they are probably safe.
I once found about how good the wine they made was when visiting a friend's
house. We were all self-sufficiency aspiring, goatkeeping people in a nice
local club in the 80's.
"Try our hawthorn wine" they said. So we did. It was nice, so they gave
me another glass, and then asked if I wanted to try another home made wine
they'd made from tea. I said, Ok as I felt fine and I was not driving.
That was very nice too. As was the next glass of hawthorn. Suddenly I was
really drunk.
My husband managed to drive us home. He'd had two glasses of the hawthorn
wine and realised "stop. NOW"
I doubt he would have passed the breath test.
So, hawthorn berries are not toxic. But they can give you a bad headache
the next day ;-)

Tina

Chris Hogg wrote:
I've made sloe gin a few times.
Rather to my surprise in our local Supermarket, I saw that Gordon's
now do a Sloe Gin.

Have been doing it for some time. It's ok, but it's not as nice as
homemade.