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Can anyone identify this?

aidanhoadaidanhoad Posts: 171
in Plants
Hi all, I wonder if anyone is able to identify the plant based on the attached pictures - I am so sorry, I have no pictures of it in summer time and can’t even remember what it looks like in summer time... ideally I need to know if I can prune it (as it has become too big) at this point in time, given that it already has buds on it... I know the chances of anyone identifying it at present are slim given that it is merely a collecting of twigs! Thanks in advance to anyone that can help. Aidan. :)
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Posts

  • aidanhoadaidanhoad Posts: 171

  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 11,441
    It looks like a pussy willow, a type of Salix .
    I'm sure an expert will be along shortly  :)
  • aidanhoadaidanhoad Posts: 171
    Thank you - I’ve had a quick google and I think it could well be... is it normal that it is shaped more like a bush than a tree? Is that years of neglect perhaps?
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 83,986
    It’s perfectly normal ... it’s usually a bush of damp hedgerows and scrubland. 
    Good for wildlife but not a garden shrub in the most usually accepted sense. 

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





  • aidanhoadaidanhoad Posts: 171
    Thank you. We moved in to our house about three years ago now and it was already in place, unfortunately not a great deal will grow successfully here as we are exposed on the side of a hill with cold weather and strong winds (Scottish Highlands). I’m therefore reluctant to remove it as it it’s clearly doing well, but I do want to neaten it somewhat - am I too late to prune it this year? If not, is there a particular technique - I am by no means a gardener, as much as I would love to be!!
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 83,986
    If you have a wild hillside I think a neatly pruned shrub would look rather incongruous ... a wild hillside is a place for beautiful wild trees and bushes. I’d leave it be ... naturally beautiful ... a few native type daffodils (Narcissus pseudonarcissus) planted in a scattered natural way around it for next spring would set it off nicely 😊 

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





  • aidanhoadaidanhoad Posts: 171
    It is positioned in a flower bed in our front garden. The rest of the bed has all been neatened and tidied up but that end has yet to be, so it needs to be trimmed to be a little neater as it has become rather unruly and is on it’s way to growing across a set of steps down into the garden... 
  • aidanhoadaidanhoad Posts: 171

  • aidanhoadaidanhoad Posts: 171

  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 11,441
    If you do want to tidy it up, it's not too late as long as it's before the end of April  :)
    https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/shrubs/pussy-willow/how-prune-pussy-willows.htm
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