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Plant ID - is it a tree?

wakeshinewakeshine Posts: 975

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Hello everyone. Can anyone tell me what this is/might be? I found it growing in my mum's large pot of lilly bulbs she had put out the year before last. The lilly had babies and they were all tangled up with this more sturdy plant. It was very diffifcult but we untangled most of them and moved those into a different tub. This shrub/tree (?) looks to be growing healthily so I have temporarily put it in this pot while I work out what it is. I might put it in the ground depending on what it is. It had a very big root ball and a plethora of long stringy fibrous roots. I didn't plant it. My dad has a tendency to put fruit seeds into my mum's patio and houseplant pots. Like that we have a grape vine and a did have tamarind plant too. He doesn't recall though. Could it be an apple tree from seed? Or is it something else?

Posts

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,391

    Possibly a goat willow sapling.  The seeds get blown in by the wind.

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,349

    looks willow like to me



    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • wakeshinewakeshine Posts: 975

    Thank you Nutcutlet and Aym280. That's very interesting. Have you got any advice as to how I can care for it? Can I just plant it in the ground? Any particular type of soil?

  • wakeshinewakeshine Posts: 975

    Oh also sorry does anyone know how big the goat willow grows and at what rate?

  • Invicta2Invicta2 Posts: 663

    Final height is quite variable depending on soil conditions  [the damper it is the bigger it gets] it can reach anything from 25 to 40 ft with a wide spread. Growth rate is fast about 2 ft a year.usually

  • wakeshinewakeshine Posts: 975

    Do,you think I should just put in a bigger pot then? I dont really have much room for a tree and i inow you have to be careful with tree planting due to laws, damage etc..

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 86,869

    Unless you have several acres and want a large wildlife thicket-type area I'd chop it up and put it on the compost heap.  It will grow huge and be nothing but a nuisance.image

    And I love trees image


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





  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,495

    Not the tree for you!  I have a large garden surounded by fields and several  goat willows growing in the wetter areas. They fit in here but you would do better to choose a small decorative tree that you really like, such as a crab apple, cherry, amelanchier, rowan or hawthorn.

  • wakeshinewakeshine Posts: 975

    Oh, thank you so much for the tree recommendations! All beautiful. I did buy a Prunus Triloba recently and have planted it. I think that that will do for now. Since this willow just appeared in the patio I thought I'd better ask, but I will just leave it alone for now. Thanks again :-)

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