Is it a shrub, is it a tree, no it's …

[oddoneout]

One answer perhaps?

http://www.bonsai4me.co.uk/SpeciesGuide/Betula.html

[french frank]

One answer perhaps?

http://www.bonsai4me.co.uk/SpeciesGuide/Betula.html

Interesting, but I'm not sure that I want to follow the bonsai route but the Woodland Trust guy said he had a pollarded maple in his garden which he'd kept to a reasonable size. And I topped one of the hawthorns so that it has a drooping umbrella shape.

[oddoneout]

Interesting, but I'm not sure that I want to follow the bonsai route but the Woodland Trust guy said he had a pollarded maple in his garden which he'd kept to a reasonable size. And I topped one of the hawthorns so that it has a drooping umbrella shape.

No, but elements of that might be useful? Root pruning for instance is as important as trimming the top parts and is a recognised technique for managing trees in pots - fruit trees such as figs being a common example. I kept a gingko in a pot for many years that way, until some scumbag took it from my allotment where it was temporarily lodged while I moved house.

[doversoul1]

Any update on this?

[oddoneout]

Any update on this?

I was wondering as well, but it's too early I think for any foliage, although I suppose that if it was something tender(I don't believe it is) it would be showing signs of having succumbed to the winter.
I am expecting a bumper crop of birch seedlings in both my plant pots and the garden proper as the quantity of seed produced in 2018 was exceptional. It got every where, blowing into the house through windows and doors, getting into clothes drying on the line, turning up as garnish on food.

[french frank]

Any update on this?

I was wondering as well, but it's too early I think for any foliage, although I suppose that if it was something tender(I don't believe it is) it would be showing signs of having succumbed to the winter.
I am expecting a bumper crop of birch seedlings in both my plant pots and the garden proper as the quantity of seed produced in 2018 was exceptional. It got every where, blowing into the house through windows and doors, getting into clothes drying on the line, turning up as garnish on food.

No, no foliage as yet, but planted out and just a hint of green on the buds. A neighbour down the road has a pot in front of the house with something very similar. I must ask if they know what it is. Did I say the Woodland Trust "guessed" [sic] Downy Birch?

[Serial_Apologist]

So, so sad to hear on the lunchtime news that the ash dieback disease, thought to be a consequence of higher temperatures, is spreading faster than was first thought. This will have a devastating effect on our landscapes, whether or not new more resistant varieties can be produced, as well as the associated animal species.

Apologies of this is in the wrong thread.

[doversoul1]

No, no foliage as yet, but planted out and just a hint of green on the buds. A neighbour down the road has a pot in front of the house with something very similar. I must ask if they know what it is. Did I say the Woodland Trust "guessed" [sic] Downy Birch?

At least we now know it’s a tree.

Serial_Apologist
I missed the news. Is it as bad as that?

[gradus]

An almost identical plant to frenchie's appears on a flyer for a gardening supplies company flyer inserted in today's East Anglian Daily Times. Unfortunately the plant remains anonymous there too.

[Serial_Apologist]

Serial_Apologist
I missed the news. Is it as bad as that?

What was being said was that the disease is now affecting the majority of ash trees in Wales and getting towards that in England. Scotland is less affected, having less ash trees in the first place, and not yet being affected by rising temperatures to the same extent as the rest of the UK.

BTW Frenchie's "tree" is not an ash - where it to be so the buds would be twinned along both sides of the stems.

[french frank]

At least we now know it’s a tree.

I had a strong suspicion, even when it was about 2cms high. It just had a tree-like habit. But if any flowers appear …

BTW Frenchie's "tree" is not an ash - where it to be so the buds would be twinned along both sides of the stems.

No, definitely not an ash, judging by the leaves last summer.

[ardcarp]

Anyone seen a mistletoe tree before?


For 35 of the 40 years we've lived here, it's been a smalll apple-tree full of delicious small red eating apples in late summer. Mrs A. had an ambition to get mistletoe to grow on it...which failed for 35 years...and then...boom.



(The birds have stripped all the berries, BTW.) Whether the tree will survive or not remains to be seen. In addition to the obvious bits, there are tiny mistletoe 'shoots' popping up all over it. I assumed a parasite would not kill its host, but in this case it seems likely. Devon is not particularly known for mistletoe, whereas Somerset, not far away, is.

[Bryn]

Anyone seen a mistletoe tree before?


For 35 of the 40 years we've lived here, it's been a smalll apple-tree full of delicious small red eating apples in late summer. Mrs A. had an ambition to get mistletoe to grow on it...which failed for 35 years...and then...boom.



(The birds have stripped all the berries, BTW.) Whether the tree will survive or not remains to be seen. In addition to the obvious bits, there are tiny mistletoe 'shoots' popping up all over it. I assumed a parasite would not kill its host, but in this case it seems likely. Devon is not particularly known for mistletoe, whereas Somerset, not far away, is.

The area around Windsor and Eton is heavy with mistletoe. I well recall having to advise a tour guide that the 'rooks' nests he was pointing out to tourists were in fact mistletoe and not any king of birds' nests. With the Mistle Thrush now being on the red list regarding UK conservation status (it's of the lowest concern internationally), perhaps mistletoe profusion will suffer.

[gradus]

We get it on one apple tree and at one time it became a bit of a nuisance by growing too vigorously.so we cut it back but it persists.

[vinteuil]

The area around Windsor and Eton is heavy with mistletoe...

... and whoever would have thought Eton or Windsor were infested with parasites!


.