The first has large pink fluffy flowers and I am fairly sure they are some sort of spirea but don't know which sub species and hence don't know when best to prune.

The second I have never seen before, they have long thin blue green, almost aqua, leaves. There is no sign of any flowers yet but they do have a stunning deep red/purple stem.

pictures can be seen at Picasa Web Albums - Ian Davies - Can anyone id...

Thanks in advance.

The second one ( first picture!) is Caper Spurge - Euphorbia lathyrus

It's an annual or biennial which grows to 2 or 3 ft tall. It produces tiny yellow flower with a large blue/green calyx then seeds freely.

I't's mildly interesting and worth leaving if you have space - next years seedlings are easily hoed if you don't want them

I've never known it to flower in the first year. Where we are, it is biennial - flowers in the second year then dies, but down south I've heard people say it's perennial.

The tiny yellow flower is the male flower, and next two it two stalks appear, one with a tiny ball on it with a stigma attached. This is the female flower, from which the fruit develops. The other stalk grows to produce another cupped calyx and another pair of flowers - and so on ad infinitum.

The plant is related to the red-leaved poinsettia on sale at christmas

Beware of the sap - some people are sensitive to it.

In message , imdavies
writes

The first has large pink fluffy flowers and I am fairly sure they are
some sort of spirea but don't know which sub species and hence don't
know when best to prune.

Spiraea salicifolia agg., but that includes several species and hybrids.

The second I have never seen before, they have long thin blue green,
almost aqua, leaves. There is no sign of any flowers yet but they do
have a stunning deep red/purple stem.

pictures can be seen at 'Picasa Web Albums - Ian Davies - Can anyone
id...' (http://bit.ly/pcJl5j)

Thanks in advance.


--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

Many thanks to all for your help.

New house, new garden a blank canvas almost..... I am sure there will be many more questions.

have a pleasant week.

Spiraeas handle a lot of abuse. It depends what you are trying to prune to achieve. I prune one of mine hard and several times a year because I'm trying to stop it taking over the world. But for better behaved ones, a good haircut in the winter is what most of them benefit from. You can also cut the flowerheads off as soon as they look tatty to improve the appearance in the growing season.