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Mystery shrubs or trees in our new garden

NibbletsNibblets Posts: 13
in Plants

We are gardening newbies. These two samples have come from the garden of a house we are buying. Both are from fairly overgrown trees / shrubs dangling over the fence from a neighbour's garden. Can nayone identify what they are, please? The one on the right had flowers like skinny white lilac sprays earlier this year. Thanks in advance!

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Posts

  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,148

    an ivy on the left, Portugal Laurel on the right



    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • NibbletsNibblets Posts: 13

    Thanks for the speedy reply, nutcutlet.image Hopefully we'll not have problems getting this all trimmed back. There's a few ivy-like plants in the new garden - evidence of old dry growth being pulled down from the brickwork of the house - but no damage, it seems

    image

     

  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,148

    ivy only damages if it gets between things, like your roof tiles or holes in mortar. I keep it at bay to some extent or it would take over the world. A tree covered in ivy struggles to get its leaves to the light and catches a lot of wind in the winter gales and is more likely to fall over.



    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • NibbletsNibblets Posts: 13

    Thanks for the tips; the garden is rather overgrown at the moment, but underneath the foliage I can see it was well-designed originally and has some very nice mature shrubs. Although it's SW-facing, the garden is full of evergreen shrubs, small trees and ferns. Oh - and a neglected pond in need of overhaul.

  • thecatsmotherthecatsmother Posts: 139

    Yeah I'd definitely keep firm control of that ivy around the guttering/windowsills/downpipes. If it gets behind the guttering/downpipes with what is at first a fine tendril, it will grow and thicken and can push the pipes away from the wall (and can fill the gutter, blocking it). I really don't like plants growing on houses - I pulled some ivy down last week and quite a lot of masonry paint came down with it, where the roots had actually grown under the paint image.

    We've also just moved into a house with a garden which was obviously originally well-planned but had been recently neglected (and a neglected pond too!) - it's turning into a really fun journey of discovery - hope you enoy your garden journey too!

     

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