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

[oddoneout]

While I'm over here for a moment I can report that the 'weed' is now a sturdy 4ft 6ins and is coming into bud. Still hoping for a bit of flower to aid identification. I also have two new 2inch seedlings, which I think may be from the mountain ash. The original root stock sprang a couple of new branches with red berries (not white) last year, so it's possible a berry dropped into a nearby flowerpot. I transplanted them when I spotted them last summer and they survived the winter.

If, as has been suggested, it is a birch seedling then you could have quite a wait for flowers(which wouldn't be that conspicuous anyway). The leaves might this year be more 'adult' in form though which could help to make a final decision.
As for the rowan, those with different coloured berries are likely to be grafted onto ordinary rowan stock, seeds from which if it flowers and fruits will produce the wild form red fruited plants. I don't know what the results are from germinating seeds from coloured berries - whether it results in a percentage of 'wild' form plants.

[LezLee]

Re ash dieback...perhaps one reason why it's not ventured as far North as Northumberland and Scotland is that it's got more sense than we had when we upped sticks from tropical Herefordshire two years ago. The weather up here is truly dire, they have nasty bitey insects the likes of which we'd never seen and the only thing that flourishes is verdant green luxurious moss.

It certainly has spread to Scotland. 95 sites in 2013. My friend is head gardener at Braco Castle in Perthshire and sadly, had to deal with it on the estate.

[teamsaint]

OK, see if you know what this is, ( shouldn't be too tough) and the board member whose garden it graces ( not all that much tougher ) !!

[Serial_Apologist]

A magnolia (of some sort!)

[oddoneout]

Amelanchier

[teamsaint]

A couple of these have appeared in my garden. No idea what they are. I quite like them so, keep re-planting them in better spots.
It was only after I planted one in the front bank that Mrs TS suggested that they might be cannabis ......

( The one in the photo is just recovering after being moved, and the thing to the left is Rhubarb.)

[Serial_Apologist]

A couple of these have appeared in my garden. No idea what they are. I quite like them so, keep re-planting them in better spots.
It was only after I planted one in the front bank that Mrs TS suggested that they might be cannabis ......

( The one in the photo is just recovering after being moved, and the thing to the left is Rhubarb.)

Someone in the vicinity (or maybe not) sees your plot as suitable for cultivating their stash, teamy! I must confess this is what some of us used to do in the 1970s - using the back garden of a sweet old lady who would be the last person the fuzz would suspect of running a cannabis farm! - unless she were Katie Johnson - aka Mrs Wilberforce in the original "The Ladykillers"!

[Bryn]

A couple of these have appeared in my garden. No idea what they are. I quite like them so, keep re-planting them in better spots.
It was only after I planted one in the front bank that Mrs TS suggested that they might be cannabis ......

( The one in the photo is just recovering after being moved, and the thing to the left is Rhubarb.)

Well, of course, I have no idea what a real Cannabis sativa plant would look like, but . . .

[LezLee]

OK, see if you know what this is, ( shouldn't be too tough) and the board member whose garden it graces ( not all that much tougher ) !!

Hawthorn

[teamsaint]

Well, of course, I have no idea what a real Cannabis sativa plant would look like, but . . .

That is almost EXACTLY what Mrs TS said, as it goes.........

( I thought you needed lots of artificial light,with hot and humid conditions to grow that stuff......like the guys in the flat overlooking the ring road in Salisbury .......)

[Pulcinella]

Amelanchier

It is indeed!
No need to guess where it is, as I shall own up, and thank ts for posting the picture for me (though after his later revelations I'm not sure we should be associating with him!). I have not mastered the art of posting images on the forum; indeed, even trying to send a better image by email yesterday failed.


Our estate rules prohibit us from planting any trees, so the amelanchier was a great option for our new back garden. It was planted in early 2018 (though as a mature specimen) and has done remarkably well. The blossom is followed by dark red to black fruit/berries, which the blackbirds adore, and the foliage turns red in autumn, so it is a shrub that serves its purpose of providing interest during the year very well.

[gradus]

It is indeed!
No need to guess where it is, as I shall own up, and thank ts for posting the picture for me (though after his later revelations I'm not sure we should be associating with him!). I have not mastered the art of posting images on the forum; indeed, even trying to send a better image by email yesterday failed.


Our estate rules prohibit us from planting any trees, so the amelanchier was a great option for our new back garden. It was planted in early 2018 (though as a mature specimen) and has done remarkably well. The blossom is followed by dark red to black fruit/berries, which the blackbirds adore, and the foliage turns red in autumn, so it is a shrub that serves its purpose of providing interest during the year very well.

So, no apples, pears, plums etc. which seems a bit harsh and a bit of an own goal since the trees can be as small or smaller than an Amelanchier and just as pretty and fruitful.

[Bryn]

It is indeed!
No need to guess where it is, as I shall own up, and thank ts for posting the picture for me (though after his later revelations I'm not sure we should be associating with him!). I have not mastered the art of posting images on the forum; indeed, even trying to send a better image by email yesterday failed.


Our estate rules prohibit us from planting any trees, so the amelanchier was a great option for our new back garden. It was planted in early 2018 (though as a mature specimen) and has done remarkably well. The blossom is followed by dark red to black fruit/berries, which the blackbirds adore, and the foliage turns red in autumn, so it is a shrub that serves its purpose of providing interest during the year very well.

What rationale, if any, is offered for the ban on tree-planting? In our area, the written permission of the local council's tree officer is required for the removal of a tree, even a dead one. Of course, it is not exactly strictly enforced but the presumption is that trees enhance, rather than debase the built environment. Have the Woodland Trust been advised of this ruling?

[Pulcinella]

I'm not sure of the rationale for the decision, which does indeed seem a little arbitrary (though I can understand the desire for no leylandii!), or indeed how strictly it might be enforced.
We had to get approval for putting solar panels on the roof too.
It is a Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust (JRHT) estate; we pay an estate maintenance fee on top of the usual council tax.
Have just been talking to a JRHT employee, who is looking after some of the land.
I'm hoping he might get access to some of the bedding plants they have that might be about to perish.
The phase of the estate I'm in is about to be handed over from the developer to JRHT, so the residents might soon have more say in what is done in terms of maintenance etc.

[Bryn]

I'm not sure of the rationale for the decision, which does indeed seem a little arbitrary (though I can understand the desire for no leylandii!), or indeed how strictly it might be enforced.
We had to get approval for putting solar panels on the roof too.
It is a Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust (JRHT) estate; we pay an estate maintenance fee on top of the usual council tax.
Have just been talking to a JRHT employee, who is looking after some of the land.
I'm hoping he might get access to some of the bedding plants they have that might be about to perish.
The phase of the estate I'm in is about to be handed over from the developer to JRHT, so the residents might soon have more say in what is done in terms of maintenance etc.

On a lighter note, I think I may have mentioned somewhere on this forum in the past that when my oversized silver birch (some 30 metres from base to very top) finally gave in to honey fungus, I got the relevant approval from the Tree Officer to have it taken down. Part of the approval required replacing the tree. A choice of Rowan, Fastigiate Hornbeam or another species I forget, was cited. When I suggested I would prefer a normal wild Hornbeam to the cultivated fastigiate type, my suggestion was greeted with glee. It seems most residents want ornamentals. I had in mind a sapling which was in the line of a new road construction and was to be bulldozed within the next few days. The transplantation involved a move of less than half a mile, so it was given the nod. It took well and has continued to prosper.