I found pics of a couple of mystery plants I have been wanting to ID and I thought this might be a good time to ask all the wise gardeners out there for their help. Both of these plants are in my back lane here in zone 3.
This first one I photographed early last September. It was about 5 ft tall and covered in these pink and red flowers. The flowers themselves are about one inch in size. While the plant was a little scrubby in nature, I think it was a perennial, not a shrub. Any ideas on this one? (BTW, you can click on any of these photos to make them bigger)
I appreciate all possible id suggestions. And I wish you sunshine in your gardens very soon. Lots of warm, golden sun. (And a cool glass of wine to enjoy out in that sun!) Thanks muchly!!
UPDATE: Many thanks to Ann and Laurrie for their quick identification skills. Wow, you guys *are* good! And this is why I love the garden blogging community. :)
22 comments:
The first plant is Turkestan burning bush. It's a shrub, but can be rather sprawly. I can't see the pictures of the second plant, so I can't help you with that one.
No rain here today, and I hope it holds off for a while because our new walkways and patios are being poured today!
Ann (formerly of the Alberta Perennial Trials - now just Ann with a new house waiting impatiently for topsoil)
Hi Ann, Thanks for the id on the first one! It is so unusual looking. The flowers almost seem to be flowers and fruit together. I checked the second photos and they weren't showing up for me in IE8 while they were showing in Firefox so I reloaded them and hope that helps.
I just have to add how much I enjoyed following along on the AB Perennial Trials blog. It was a joy and so informative.
Best wishes for your brand new home and garden! I hope you will post some progress as you build this garden. :)
The second one looks like creeping charlie, or ground ivy. It is Glechoma hederacea and I have it crawling through my turfgrass. Everywhere. You can't get rid of it once you have it, so do some googling to see what others advise. If you like it and it is pretty, that's good, but you will not be able to change your mind once you have it!
Laurrie, I googled it and you are absolutely right. That is exactly what it looks like. So, as far as it going in my new garden project? Fuggataboudit. Thanks!!
While creeping Charlie is hard to get rid of, it does make a good ground cover. Perennials and little, more delicate plants can grow through it and with it without a problem and it is easy to pull up with a shallow root system. Ajuga is agressive and has such a thick mat that plants have problems growing through it and it quickly smothers tiny seedlings! I would and do have creeping Charlie in my garden but am removing all the ajuga soon.
Sheryl, thanks for your comments. Good to know it is not all bad as there is so much of it around. I have started a list of possible plants for my little project and I think I will wait and see how much room I can expect to have left after the perennials go in before I worry about ground covers. It is a small area and right now it is bark mulched to keep the weeds down.
I wasn't familiar with either, I learned something new today lol. Raining off and on here, but mostly off today. :)
Can't wait to see what you come up with as far as the color copies goes.
Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams
Rebecca, don't you just love it when you learn something new. :) It has finally stopped here - for now - but there are still black clouds everywhere. I swear my lawn made squelching sounds when I walked across it today. lol
Jen, I am perusing my photo files. I can't believe I have never printed any of my garden photos. I love the idea of changing them up - thanks!! ;)
Good ID on both plants. I have the Burning bush which is Euonymus alatus (likely). Very hardy and evergreen for the most part.
Something we did last winter was to put together a "2010 Blue Honeysuckle Farm" (that's us) memory book. This included lots of pictures of our plants and happenings for the year. Including our son's wedding. So now we have something we can show people and it is a condensed version of the hundreds of pictures we took. We used Photoinpress.ca since they have an album builder which you can download and work on at your leisure. We also did one for our son's birthday as a memory since birth as he got married last May and now his new wife knows a little more about him!
Enjoy the time for creative pursuits.
Hi Clayton, I've been thinking this would be a really good time for a creative pursuit. I can sit up for about 2 hrs at a time and with all the rain these days that time is going mighty slow. I never did a scrapbook of my little son but I would be interested in doing a digital one and having it printed. I will check out the link you provided. Thanks!! :)
Whew! I'm glad you've got such savvy readers, Ms.S. I hope the rain quits soon.
Grace, it is supposed to only be thunder "showers" tomorrow - which means sunny breaks, right? :)
Ms S, you have very knowledgeable friends here! BTW, it is rainy months here now in the Philippines, and if it rains it really pours, that's why you might see flooding here on TV news, and some landslides, etc. It doesn't rain here without the typhoon!
Andrea, I hope you aren't hit by any typhoons! Enjoy the sunshine when it does appear. :)
I recognized the second photo immediately. Creeping Charlie snakes its way into my flower beds and hides in my lawn. Even though the flowers are pretty, it is on my list of undesireable and invasive plants.
I'm so glad you posted these photos!! I have your purple flower in ABUNDANCE throughout my lawn. I always thought it was an ajuga as well but boy does it spread. The upside is that the bees love it.
Glad you got your mystery plants IDed! Not rainy here; smoky yesterday from a wildlife at the coast (2 hours away), sunny today and hot, hot, HOT. I hope you get some sunshine soon after a long cold winter.
Sweetbay, today has been a perfect day of sunshine and mild weather. The day we dream of all year. Hopefully it lasts! Sorry to hear about the wildfires. Hope you get some cooler days soon. :)
I'm late getting here Ms S (red faced) so you already have your identification ! yahh !!
It is great help to have so many wise gardeners open to helping us out when we have no idea what a plant is .. in fact I will be taking a picture of one that I am sure the tag is not right .. I have gotten a few OOPS ! tags and wonder how many coffee breaks the nursery people are taking and what exactly is in their coffee ? hahaha
Nice to visit with you girl : )
Joy
I've had mystery plants Id'd through my blog before, too! It's awesome! There's so much wisdom out there. We were brutally hot last week while you were trying to stay dry. I'll take some of your rain!! Happy gardening! :o)
Joy, I'm sure those garden nursery workers are just high on life. Wouldn't you be if you were surrounded by beautiful plants all day?? hee hee :)
Casa Mariposa, I had no doubt someone would be able to help me ID the plants. I was just amazed at how fast the answers came. Great people, these gardeners!
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