Shrubs

[KeenTeen17]

1)
2)
3)
Thanks

[leifus]

where did you find 3?

Sea-buckthorn was the first thing to spring to mind.....

[davidbr]

No. 1 is Bullate Cotoneaster, Cotoneaster rehderi; in Bristol, where I do most of my plant-hunting, it's by far the commonest of the larger cotoneasters and self-sown plants frequently spring up in hedges, abandoned gardens, patches of woodland etc.

No. 2 is Thunberg's Barberry, Berberis thunbergii; it comes in two forms, purple-leaved and with normal, green leaves. A very common ornamental shrub, established in the wild in a few places.

No. 3 is Hedge Barberry, Berberis x stenophylla, quite commonly used nowadays for hedging & ornament in parks etc. It's a fertile hybrid, and I've seen plants self-sown at the side of walls in towns etc.

[KeenTeen17]

thanks Dave. I have another cotoneaster in the garden as well which has smaller leaves, but I've been told to wait until it flowers in order to get a definite ID

[davidbr]

You don't necessarily need the flowers - are there any berries remaining on it? If not, then post up a picture anyway; if it's one of the more frequent species, I might recognise it

[KeenTeen17]

You asked for it

The leaves are only small
This was the only berry I could find. All the others on it have gone

[davidbr]

That looks like Franchet's Cotoneaster, Cotoneaster franchetti - it's one of two fairly similar species (the other being Stern's Cotoneaster, C. sternanus, which tends to have slightly larger leaves) that turns up on waste ground, in old quarries etc pretty regularly

Did you plant it, or did it just appear? Funnily enough, I've never actually seen a "planted" one in a garden - it flowers in late May to June but, to be honest, doesn't make for the most attractive of shrubs

[KeenTeen17]

we didn't plant it - it was here when we moved in

[davidbr]

Could well have been bird-sown, then; birds seem to love the berries, that's probably why they spring up all over the place

[KeenTeen17]

Thanks David - theres loads of seedlings coming up now around the garden