Need help identifying plants

jordanjim

The house I've moved into has an incredibly overgrown garden and I'm in the process of deciding what to keep, re-site or get rid of. I'm new to gardening and frankly can't even tell what's weeds or not yet! To start with, can anyone help identify any of the plants in the following photos?

JulieM

To start you off - 3 is Hellebore, 4 is ivy or something similar.

Can't think of 1 and 2 at the moment, are they actually in flower now or were the photos taken at another time of year?

andymandy

1st plant looks like Cotoneaster but not sure what its is mixed with. It could be a Pieris looking at the leaves but not sure.
Don't recognise 2nd plant with yellow flowers but third image looks like Helleborus Foetidus . 4th plant is ivy.

Farway

2ns plant looks like some member of pea family, or perhaps St John's wort?

jordanjim

Thanks for the good start, everyone. The photos were taken today so yes, the first two are in flower.

Having looked it up just now I think the bottom left plant in photo 1 is definitely Cotoneaster. It seems to have wild-rooted all over the place, including in the other bush in the photo. That bush is about 6' high, 5' wide and wasn't flowering during late summer or autumn, if it helps.

The plant in the 4th photo is mixed in with ivy but is definitely different, or perhaps is a different member of the ivy family. It has clusters of those starburst/dandelion shaped seed pods that are in the centre of the photo, and the leaves get quite elongated and straggly towards the ends of the branches. It seems to twine upwards around plants, but doesn't spread sideways over the neighbouring paving slabs like normal ivy. It's so dense that I didn't even realise that there was a poor, choked hydrangea bush under it until I started cutting it back.

lisa110rry

Those "starburst" things are mature ivy flowers/fruits. When ivy gets old it changes like that. Bees love them!

JulieM

I've looked in my books but still can't come up with a name for the top plant in picture one. As andymandy says, it looks like Pieris but the flowering time is wrong. Perhaps you could cut a bit off and take it to a garden centre and ask the staff, or see if they have it in stock. The yellow flowering plant is also a mystery, maybe another question for the garden centre?

I think the plant which looks like ivy is a weed as you see it growing in hedges, it attracts the bees in the autumn.

I'm assuming you're in the UK?

jordanjim

Really showing my ignorance here, I had no idea those were ivy seeds, I'd never seen them before! I'll just have to plant something else the bees might like when I get rid of it.

JulieM, yes, I am in the UK. Thanks for the suggestion, I might take the mystery two to the garden centre this weekend.

Apodemus

I'd have the top one in the first pic as a pieris too. And as for flowering time...well, mine is in flower at the moment in Highland Scotland!

REEN

I think the yellow flowered one is a coronilla.

arbrighton

If possible, please don't get rid of the ivy, it's good for birds (berries and nesting) as well as bees. Reduce it by all means but please try to keep a patch.
1) Cotoneaster at front, Pieris behind
2) sorry, not sure, but not Hypericum (St JOhn's wort)
3) A hellebore with a Choisya in the background