Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Can You Identify This Plant? Round 2

Hello my lovelies and welcome to the second round of 'Can You Identify This Plant?' As with the previous round, I will post some photos of the plants in question and if you know what they are, let me know! This round will revolve around two trees, one which is quite small and flowery and one which is much larger and likes to drop sticks in the yard.

To help with the identification, I'm in Hardiness Zone 7, North-Western South Carolina. You can click any image to visit its Flickr page where you can get a larger view.

Unknown Tree #1: Small and Flowery.
The first photo shows the tree as it was beginning to bud last month. The last two photos were taken over the weekend.

Unknown Tree 2
Unknown Tree 2
Unknown Tree 2


Unknown Tree #2: Large and Leafy.
I took quite a few photos of this one, since it has interesting leaves and seeds and the bark is different on the trunk and branches.

Unknown Tree 1
Full Tree.
Unknown Tree 1
Bark at the trunk.
Unknown Tree 1
Unknown Tree 1
Unknown Tree 1
Unknown Tree 1
Close up of the bark on a branch.


P.S. I need a wee bit of advice from those of you with more herb gardening experience then myself. You see, the previous owners planted thyme, which they did not make any effect to contain and it is now literally taking over my garden. As it stand right now, I have three massive bushes producing more thyme then I could feasibly use in the next year and a bunch of small, intrusive bushes starting up in the middle of other plants, such as my rosemary and sage (one of the sage plants is not looking too hot either.). My question is this, at this point how can I go about cutting it back, removing the intrusive bushes and containing it? I'm not above digging up a large bush if need be, I just want it to quit it's quest for total garden domination.

17 comments:

  1. The flowery bush is a rhododendron.

    The tree looks like either a birch or a poplar but unless there were yellow sticky things all under the tree from when the buds broke its not a poplar and the trunk bark doesnt look like a birch, but I would go with birch.

    As for the thyme, dig it out if thats what you want. If you seriously want to contain it then you'll have to transplant some to a container but if you are content with pruning it every year and pulling out any seedlings then keep it in the garden and cut it back as much as you feel is neccessary to get it under control.
    http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/herb/pruning-thyme-plants.htm

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  2. I actually thought the flowery bush is an azalea, grown a little wild.

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  3. Yup, top one is Azalea. Beautiful color. I've never seen one that color before.

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  4. I third the azalea. They are ALL OVER THE PLACE down here where I live and the flowers can be all different colors: purple, white, red, pink. They are beautiful shrubbery type bushes.

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  5. The flowery one looks like an Azalea. Second one, the tree, is Pecan

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  6. Sorry, not Pacan but it might be Mulberry.

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  7. The first one looks like an azelea and the tree looks like a birch tree to me ; )
    Have a great day.

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  8. tree is a birch or alder... flowers seem to bunch less which may make them azaleas but rhoddie was my first guess until i saw how little leafs there were, go with azalea

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  9. I was thinking the tree is either a birch or alder as well, but the identification books I took our from the library haven't helped me figure out which. The bark is throwing it off for me.

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  10. My guess/bet would be river birch (betula nigra) for #2.
    +1 on #1 being an azalea (possibly Oconee Azalea (Rhododendron flammeum) since they bloom Mid april-mid may). You could try http://www.tjhsst.edu/~dhyatt/ars/natives.htm and see if it's something else/hybrid.

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  11. You have such lovely shrubs and flowers and trees! I think the second one is an azalea. We have two of them in our yard - and they are so pretty. The color of yours is just spectacular! Theresa

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  12. Azaleas & Rhododendrons are from the same family, Azaleas can tolerate a warmer climate. Whichever it is, it's very beautiful!
    The tree - I think is an alder but not sure. The pairs of flower spikes are quite distictive so shouldn't be too hard to find out.
    Thyme is tough as, so hack away! You won't kill it :-)
    x

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  13. okay i'm really leaning towards alder... been looking at the cones more closely and they scream alder....

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  14. the red one is definitely Azalea dont know about the tree, but with the thyme it will take a fair amount of pruning, or dig it up and transplant it into big containers so it doesnt spread so much. Hugs Sara

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  15. The bush is an azalea. And the tree is a paper birch.
    Here is a link for paper birch trees. http://www.arborday.org/trees/whatTree/WhatTree.cfm?ItemID=E53a
    A river birch will have exfoliating bark - meaning the bark will peel away from the tree in a natural process.

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  16. I think #1 is an azalea, too!

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  17. I'm nearly sure that second tree is an alder - we've loads of them round here and it looks just like them. Very appropriate for the season!!!

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