Can anyone ID this please?

Davesnave

Lotus-eater wrote: »

No he means to torture it, Dahlias are notorious masochists

sorry ....

Doh! Lotus Eater got there first.....Yes, it is breaking quite well at the nodes, but taking out the tip will help.

Marsh_Samphire

I like your bird photos Chameleon! My garden is tiny and the neighbours have 3 cats so birds don't visit, boo hoo.

Davesnave

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Whilst on the subject of identifying plants, I've just uploaded a couple of clearer pictures of a mystery tree that appeared in my garden last summer! I've a feeling it might be a mountain ash but would like someone more knowledgeable than me to confirm please :A

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/chameleon.photos/Garden/photo#5201641582330835362

More like common ash, I fear, as the leaf margins aren't serrated. Not a tree I'd recommend. In another post I said how, as an experiment I'd counted the number of ash seedlings I'd pulled up in one square metre.....and it was 54!! I'm glad to say I sold that property last year.

~Chameleon~

Davesnave wrote: »

More like common ash, I fear, as the leaf margins aren't serrated. Not a tree I'd recommend. In another post I said how, as an experiment I'd counted the number of ash seedlings I'd pulled up in one square metre.....and it was 54!! I'm glad to say I sold that property last year.

Unfortunately, I think you are right



I really don't like the idea of destroying a tree but I'm not sure it's a suitable species for the position it's decided to grow in. It's already grown to 10ft since last spring so I dread to think how big it will eventually reach :eek:

Is there any way of keeping it at a manageable height, say 20ft max, as I could then consider leaving it where it is?

Davesnave

Is there any way of keeping it at a manageable height, say 20ft max, as I could then consider leaving it where it is?

Frankly, I don't know, never having seen anyone prune or pollard one, but I imagine that you could, for a time at least. I'm not sure what repeated cutting back would make it look like over time.

They do, eventually, reach 40m or so and live for up to 200 years! Personally, I'd replace it, as my feeling is that any plant growing in the wrong place is a weed, but I respect the views of those who feel otherwise.

jollyanna

Harking back to the OP, I think it looks like an astilbe, they can grow at a rate of knotts when they first emerge.

RAS

Deffo a dahlia, may be a seedling or there was a bit of a rhizome in the compost?