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Shrub ID please

NollieNollie Posts: 7,024
in Plants
This is popping up all over the wilder parts of my garden, first time I have seen it flowering, so first time I have noticed it. Any ideas? Thanks.


Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.

Posts

  • YviestevieYviestevie Posts: 7,040
    It's hard to get perspective from the photo.  How big are the flowers.  They look a bit like privet to me.
    Hi from Kingswinford in the West Midlands
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,150
    Looks like Privet to me as well, has it got a strong sweet scent?


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,024
    Hi, it has quite small leaves, the white flowers are tiny and the spikes are about 7cm long, it does have a sweet scent up close. It’s in the nearby hedgerows too, so definitely wild rather than planted, I think.
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 52,045
    edited June 2018
    I thought privet too. Perhaps it seeds around  in your conditions Nollie, although it also layers itself  :)
    Normally we'd propagate it by cuttings. I know it's common - but I rather like privet. Insects love the flowers. It stays green up here in winter usually, because of the high rainfall. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,024
    I think that must be it, online photos look identical, thanks everyone. It seems harmless enough so will let it do its thing, but what do you mean, fairygirl that it layers itself?
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 83,788
    edited June 2018
    I think privet too. Love the smell ... reminds me of summer hols in rural Brittany.  Great for insects. It's good to see it allowed to have its head and grow to its potential and covered with blossom rather than the usual clipped hedge. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 52,045
    If a stem touches the ground,  and the conditions are suitable, it'll take root. You can peg them down to make it easier. For instance -if you want to increase plants for a hedge . I doubt if many people do it though, as it grows and spreads out quite rapidly   :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 29,116
    Great ID.  I have one of these in a hole in membrane on a slope here.  It's sharing it with a culinary bay and one of those horrid yellow button thingies.  I'm assuming one was planted and t'other pair just arrived.   Now I know I shall try and move it to a hole in our mixed and loose, informal hedge where it can grow and flower happily along with the viburnum, weigelia, Japanese honeysuckle, photinia and the rest.  
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,024
    Thanks for the explanation, fairgirl. I have just been for a walk in a different part of the woods to my normal route and they are absolutely everywhere, so they are certainly doing fine by themselves. Must have been the monsoon rains we have had, encouraging them to burst into flower.
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
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