What is this bush/tree/plant?

[gentlegreen]

This looks to me like the Osmanthus Burkwoodii. As where I work, we grow this plant. (And I'm not Nadia, just borrowed her id...)

A quick Google suggests it isn't.
It looks like box (buxus sempervirens) - but there's a similar small-leaved shrub that's also used for topiary.
Box has a very distinctive aroma.

Perhaps a male cat is marking it ?

 

[Bingo]

How about this one? it was growing in clumps 2 to 3 feet high in a young ash woodland plantation in Yorkshire...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63881028@N04/9407224018/in/photostream/

 

[gentlegreen]

A tough one that.
Ideally you need open flowers and a clear photo of the leaf arrangement ...

there's a lot in that photo - wood aven, cleavers etc.
The foliage behind looks a bit like "Enchanter's Nightshade" - which is a sort of willowherb - but I'd expect to see it flowering ...

 

[Bingo]

Yeah sorry didn't realise it was such a shoddy pic... its Dog's Mercury in the background... there were big clumps of this stuff up to 3 ft tall, totally got me stumped!

This pic doesn't really show it but the leaves of it were quite dark in colour in relation to the other stuff

 

[Bingo]

One more of it here can see leaf arrangement a bit better, flowers not open tho....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63881028@N04/9404667385/

 

[gentlegreen]

its Dog's Mercury in the background...

Oh yes - curiously the Wiki entry for that specifically mentions its ability to "shade out young ash seedlings,[1]"

 

[gentlegreen]

One more of it here can see leaf arrangement a bit better, flowers not open tho....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63881028@N04/9404667385/

What a curious looking plant .

 

[Bingo]

Its the characteristic ground flora in ash woodland... the DM that is!

 

[gentlegreen]

I'm cross with myself for not stopping and getting a photo of this two days ago before it had started to turn to mush.
It was positively luminous orange on a dull day.




Google suggests "Chicken of the Woods" - but I wouldn't have risked potential toxicity or consuming dog pee or spoiled what was a very attractive sight.
The core wood of this tree that fell several years ago is riddled with fungus so hopefully it will get better and better over the next few years.

 

[Callie]

I think ive only ever seen chicken of the woods on standing up alive trees rather than dead ones on the floor.

Does anyone know anything about kalmia? its an ever green shrub similar to rhodedrendrons/azaelias. theres one growing in a little garden at work and the flowers are ever so pretty.

anyway i managed to pick on up the other day and now im a bit worried ill either kill it or treat it badly itll just go brown and never flower Im not sure whether to put it in a largeish pot or stick it in the ground

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalmia_latifolia

does it need acidic soil? maybe better in a pot? the one at work is potted

 

[gentlegreen]

They look like cake icing !

 

[Callie]

so they do

 

[_pH_]

We had Kalmia latifolia when I worked in the Isabella Plantation at Richmond Park, it was known as the Iced Gem plant
It does need acidic humus rich soil so in a pot with ericaceous compost would be best.

 

[Callie]

thanks, thats excellent _pH_! also the plant is pretty small at the moment but the instructions say it can get to 150cm, which is probably about the size of the one at work. How do I know what size pot to put it in? can it go straight into a big one? or is it better promoting it to bigger pots as it gets bigger?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

They're very pretty flowers

 

[_pH_]

thanks, thats excellent _pH_! also the plant is pretty small at the moment but the instructions say it can get to 150cm, which is probably about the size of the one at work. How do I know what size pot to put it in? can it go straight into a big one? or is it better promoting it to bigger pots as it gets bigger?

Is it in a 3l pot now? Start it off by transplanting into a 10l pot and take it from there. They're quite slow growing iirc so it should be ok for a while in a 10l. Given that it's a woodland shrub layer species, it probably needs a bit of shelter from wind & direct sun.

 

[geminisnake]

Gorgeous flowers

 

[Callie]

Bit of misjudgement on my part it is now is a facking great pot

and while I was purchasing the pot and the dirt I also got a delphinium and a Plumbago which I have a sneaking suspicion will just DIE but its pretty too

 

[gentlegreen]

How about this one? it was growing in clumps 2 to 3 feet high in a young ash woodland plantation in Yorkshire...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63881028@N04/9407224018/in/photostream/

I wonder what golden rod - solidago would be like growing in shady conditions ?

 

[_pH_]

I'm cross with myself for not stopping and getting a photo of this two days ago before it had started to turn to mush.
It was positively luminous orange on a dull day.


View attachment 38391

Google suggests "Chicken of the Woods" - but I wouldn't have risked potential toxicity or consuming dog pee or spoiled what was a very attractive sight.
The core wood of this tree that fell several years ago is riddled with fungus so hopefully it will get better and better over the next few years.

Chicken of the woods is really nice. We found one growing on a tree in Dulwich on boohoo's Effra walk a few years back, it fed quite a few of us. No-one died.

 

[Callie]

yet

 

[_pH_]

Oh shit I just died.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Was just watching a film and noticed this strange plant/bush/tree (the one with red flowers)

Curious to know what it is

 

[gentlegreen]

It looks like a cactus (cereus ? ).
Some of them do have fancy flowers - rather than ones that are stuck on...

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

It looks like a cactus (cereus ? ).
Some of them do have fancy flowers - rather than ones that are stuck on...

It's in Burma if that helps narow the type down.

Anyway, I don't think it's something I'd be wanting in my garden. It might be prickly

 

[gentlegreen]

- and you would have to keep it indoors for half of the year.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

- and you would have to keep it indoors for half of the year.

I'm just looking into the hibiscus I got at the country show (the one with different leaves). Label says tmeps of between 15-30 degrees. I'm wondering if it's not going to get through the winter like the other ones.

Also went through all my bulb packaging that I've kept, and there's no orange dahlia in the orange dahlia bag

 

[trabuquera]

Callie - your plumbago will very probably not JUST DIE, they can live for aaages and be brought back from the dead, almost - just don't pay attention to it browning or bits falling off, you can prune them back really brutally (like 2-3cm up from soil level ) and they'll usually sprout again if given enough water. I've got some family ones which have lasted most of two decades even though I was convinced they'd given up the fight several times.

They do like some sun though, and prefer not to be completely frozen (don't know where you live or how warm it is, but a cold frame would be protection enough in most of the southern UK for most un-freak winters)

 

[Callie]

Thanks trabuquera, I dont think I know anyone with one so its good to hear some first hand experience. Its so pretty, a really nice blue colour so I hope it stays.

 

[gentlegreen]

I'm disappointed - having looked it up - I rather hoped "leadwort" would actually have an appetite for lead ...