Hello All,

I have just recently purchased a house with a small garden, I've not had
much experience with gardens before and am trying to identify the plants
currently growing there.

This first pic is an overall shot of the plants I want to Identify:
http://www.floydian.dsl.pipex.com/Image7.jpg

The second pic is a closer shot of the plants along the back:
http://www.floydian.dsl.pipex.com/Image6.jpg

There are a total of 3 of these along the back::
http://www.floydian.dsl.pipex.com/Image8.jpg

Close up of foliage on back plants:

http://www.floydian.dsl.pipex.com/Image1.jpg
http://www.floydian.dsl.pipex.com/Image3.jpg
http://www.floydian.dsl.pipex.com/Image5.jpg

Any help on this would very much appreciated.

Thanks

--
Ronald Hickey

"Ronald wrote in message
I have just recently purchased a house with a small garden, I've not had
much experience with gardens before and am trying to identify the plants
currently growing there.

The one in the centre is a Cordyline australis "bronze" variety.
The plant at the back with the blue flowers looked like Ceanothus until I
looked at the closeup, then it looked like a Solanum crispum.
The fir trees look like the dreaded Leylandii to me.

--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.

I was just about to reply with the exact same conclusions that you've come
to -- initially thought it was a ceonanthus, but closeup looks like a
solanum -- you beat me to it!



"Sue & Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...

The one in the centre is a Cordyline australis "bronze" variety.
The plant at the back with the blue flowers looked like Ceanothus until I
looked at the closeup, then it looked like a Solanum crispum.
The fir trees look like the dreaded Leylandii to me.

In message , Sue & Bob Hobden
writes

The one in the centre is a Cordyline australis "bronze" variety.
The plant at the back with the blue flowers looked like Ceanothus until I
looked at the closeup, then it looked like a Solanum crispum.
The fir trees look like the dreaded Leylandii to me.

Thanks for the reply, I've been reading various gardening groups and
Leylandi grow to enormous proportions by all accounts, should I take
these out? Or can they be trimmed to maintain their current height?

--
Ronald Hickey

On Thu, 8 May 2003, Ronald Hickey wrote:

Thanks for the reply, I've been reading various gardening groups and
Leylandi grow to enormous proportions by all accounts, should I take
these out? Or can they be trimmed to maintain their current height?

They can be maintained by trimming once, possibly twice a year. If you
search on Google you will find instructions on how to "stop" them at
the height you want so that the trunk does not show at the top and how
not to trim them too deep (because they don't come back).

You will also find a few suggestions of problems associated with them
and the cost of removing them.

After that, the decision is yours.

Kostas

The message
from Ronald Hickey contains these words:

Thanks for the reply, I've been reading various gardening groups and
Leylandi grow to enormous proportions by all accounts, should I take
these out? Or can they be trimmed to maintain their current height?

They can be trimmed like a hedge. On the estate here they planted an
avenue of Leylandii about twenty years ago to shelter and draw up the
intended avenue of oaks. They are just cutting down the Leylandii now,
and they are about 70 or 80 feet. I have seen them over 120 feet - so be
warned!

--
Tony

Visit my turntable workshop http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

"Ronald wrote in message
The one in the centre is a Cordyline australis "bronze" variety.
The plant at the back with the blue flowers looked like Ceanothus until I
looked at the closeup, then it looked like a Solanum crispum.
The fir trees look like the dreaded Leylandii to me.

Thanks for the reply, I've been reading various gardening groups and
Leylandi grow to enormous proportions by all accounts, should I take
these out? Or can they be trimmed to maintain their current height?


In that size garden I would, without doubt, take them out. Even if you want
some form of "fir tree" there are some far finer plants you could use
instead.
Leylandi can be trimmed but never look good in the way a Yew hedge would and
there are other alternatives, indeed the Ceanothus I mentioned earlier can
make a fine light hedge if trimmed appropriately.
The only thing Leylandi have going for them is they are quick growing,
however they don't ever stop growing either, I've heard a rumour of some
over 100ft tall and still growing! :-(

--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.

In message , Sue & Bob Hobden
writes

In that size garden I would, without doubt, take them out. Even if you want
some form of "fir tree" there are some far finer plants you could use
instead.
Leylandi can be trimmed but never look good in the way a Yew hedge would and
there are other alternatives, indeed the Ceanothus I mentioned earlier can
make a fine light hedge if trimmed appropriately.
The only thing Leylandi have going for them is they are quick growing,
however they don't ever stop growing either, I've heard a rumour of some
over 100ft tall and still growing! :-(

Thanks for all the replies everyone, on closer examination there are 5
of these and the biggest one looks as if it's been cut (clean cut at the
top). I suspect the previous owner planted these as a defensive measure
(& for a screen) as there used to be a derelict building at the back
which had an access to the street allowing people to get at the sheds.
The council has since removed this building and blocked access.

--
Ronald Hickey

Some more plants that need Identifying please

http://www.floydian.dsl.pipex.com/Image9.jpg

http://www.floydian.dsl.pipex.com/Image10.jpg

Any tips for I need to do to maintain these?

--
Ronald Hickey

in article , Ronald Hickey at
wrote on 11/5/03 10:54 am:



Some more plants that need Identifying please

http://www.floydian.dsl.pipex.com/Image9.jpg

http://www.floydian.dsl.pipex.com/Image10.jpg

Any tips for I need to do to maintain these?

The first look like lilies and the second, dwarf conifers.
With regard to your leylandii, you'll find that when you get rid of them,
you have more garden than you thought you had! Their spread is as awesome
as their height *and* nothing grows beneath them. I cut down a row of these
and gained about 6' of garden width.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
(remove the 'x' to email me)

"Ronald wrote in message ...


Some more plants that need Identifying please

http://www.floydian.dsl.pipex.com/Image9.jpg

Those look like Asiatic Lilies to me. Like acid soil and sun , keep watered
in summer.
Watch out for Lily Beetle all spring/summer (Pillar Box red, pick off and
step on) if it's in your area, daily checks are worthwhile as they can do a
lot of damage if allowed to. Lavae cover themselves in their own faeces so
look like a bird dropping.

http://www.floydian.dsl.pipex.com/Image10.jpg

Dwarf conifers of some sort, just leave them to it. (personally, they'd join
the Leylandii) :-)

--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.

In message , Sacha
writes

The first look like lilies and the second, dwarf conifers.
With regard to your leylandii, you'll find that when you get rid of them,
you have more garden than you thought you had! Their spread is as awesome
as their height *and* nothing grows beneath them. I cut down a row of these
and gained about 6' of garden width.

How difficult looking at those pictures would it be to remove those,
they are quite small, could I yank them out without specialist
equipment?

--
Ronald Hickey

The message
from Sacha contains these words:

The first look like lilies and the second, dwarf conifers.
With regard to your leylandii, you'll find that when you get rid of them,
you have more garden than you thought you had! Their spread is as awesome
as their height *and* nothing grows beneath them. I cut down a row of these
and gained about 6' of garden width.

The Leyland cypress hedge between me and next door takes about eighteen
inches of ground, and rises to the majestic height of seven feet.

I have just rerouted a clematis into it, and I intend planting two
wisterias each about a third the length from the end.

It grows out of the conifer most spectacularly, and the boring thug is
persuaded into something quite interesting and protective.

Oh, and as for nothing growing beneath them, I have two things - nay,
three. Brambles, goosegrass, and more usefully, Agaracus augustus.

I shall be keeping the area moist this summer/autumn!

--
Tony
Replace solidi with dots to reply: tony/anson snailything zetnet/co/uk

http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi

The message
from Ronald Hickey contains these words:

How difficult looking at those pictures would it be to remove those,
they are quite small, could I yank them out without specialist
equipment?

If you can't get the roots out easily, just cut the beasts down to as
near the ground as you can. They don't regenerate like some trees. (Or
at least, I've never known them to have done.)

--
Tony
Replace solidi with dots to reply: tony/anson snailything zetnet/co/uk

http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi

On Sun, 11 May 2003, Anthony E Anson wrote:

The Leyland cypress hedge between me and next door takes about eighteen
inches of ground, and rises to the majestic height of seven feet.

I have just rerouted a clematis into it, and I intend planting two
wisterias each about a third the length from the end.

(How) do you intend to synchronise the pruning of these plants with
the Leylandii?

Interested,

Kostas