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May 14, 2009
Another flower identification
Does anyone know the name of this plant? It is a shrub or bush, most of the ones I've seen are about 4 feet tall. All of them seem to be on old, established properties, and we also had this shrub/bush on our property upstate, where I grew up, which was an old Victorian farmhouse. We could never get a name for it.
It has clusters of tiny white flowers, with a delicate fragrance. It is blooming now.
Any help is appreciated.
Comments
We had those when I was growing up as well...the flowers are about 1 1/2" or so, right??
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at May 14, 2009 12:30 PM
This looks like hydrangea, but hard (for me) to say with certainty without a close focus of flower and leaf. There are endless varieties. You can read more at: http://www.usna.usda.gov/Gardens/faqs/hydrangeafaq2.html
Posted by: vinca at May 14, 2009 12:32 PM
vinca...they aren't. The picture makes them look much larger than they are because its a closeup. These flowers are very small.
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at May 14, 2009 12:44 PM
?pincushion?
Posted by: Arkady at May 14, 2009 1:15 PM
Phlox, Sweet Alyssum, Yarrow, Chickweed, Wild Four o'Clock, even some roses...
all of these would be possibilities, but not matching leaves and stems that I can make out in this photo, or the description of a 4ft. upright plant. A detailed close-up (maybe even including root), with a ruler, coin, etc. for sense of size would help. You can also try the BBG's Gardener's Resource Center: http://www.bbg.org/lib/grc.html
Posted by: vinca at May 14, 2009 1:24 PM
Viburnum, I think.
Posted by: kelly at May 14, 2009 1:59 PM
I think it's some form of Spiraea, possibly Snow Mound or Bridal Wreath:
http://www.gardenideas.com/shrubs/shrubs_spirea.html
http://www.naturehills.com/catalog/Bushes_and_Shrubs/Spiraea_Shrubs.aspx?page=1
http://www.carrollgardens.com/detail.asp?product_id=420-10-13200
I remember this from growing up in the country too. Apparently it's shade tolerant -- thanks for posting this, I'm going to get some for my garden.
Posted by: herkimermaid at May 14, 2009 2:10 PM
That's it herkimermaid. You from Herkimer County?? Got any Herkimer diamonds???
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at May 14, 2009 2:50 PM
sigh, don't I wish I had a real Herkimer diamond. My "diamond" is located on Herkimer Street and still very much in the rough! :)
Posted by: herkimermaid at May 14, 2009 3:09 PM
Well, a better photo and another close up would have been a help. It's hard to see the leaf texture. My first quick impression because of the color/tone of the photo (bluish) wat that this was spirea but I quickly realized it is not.
It may be a strain of viburnum opulus or a viburnum crossbreed...I don't remember the opulus to have a sweet scent and their habit is different...I would assume this bush forms some black berries by late fall?
Spirea smell a little yucky, have flatter flowerheads and the petals can be fairly fugitive depedning no sun, heat and rain.
The photo abobe has a little more rounded flowerheads...viburnums can have flat heads all the way to perfect globe flower heads....can be tall mini-trees and low, ground-hugging shrubs...can have no scent, a weird scent, a cloying strong sent, and wonderful sweet to strong clove sent.
Please post some bigger photos.
Posted by: BrooklynGreene at May 14, 2009 6:57 PM
Looks like my viburnam - does it smell like gardenias?
Posted by: sjb at May 14, 2009 8:37 PM
Looks like my viburnum - does it smell like gardenias?
Posted by: sjb at May 14, 2009 8:37 PM
Yes, I agree it looks like viburnum. They just finished blooming on my block. Lovely fragrance.
Posted by: hancockone at May 14, 2009 10:42 PM
Sure looks like a spirea to me, but can't tell from the leaf. To see if it's a viburnum, try this website:
http://gardening.about.com/od/treesshrubs/a/Viburnums.htm
Scroll down to link "Guide to identifying viburnums"
Posted by: Silvermax at May 14, 2009 10:48 PM
Sorry for the unclear photo. I'll have to go out and shoot again, and will post on Flickr, and post the link here. Hopefully I can find one that's still blossoming, as I took this photo last week.
Posted by: Montrose Morris at May 15, 2009 1:16 AM
MM, could you also take a further away photo too so we could see the shape of the whole bush as well?
Posted by: Nomi at May 15, 2009 3:10 AM
Hiya Montrose Morris,
It is Bridal Wreath Spirea. I am sure of it. I had these in my backyard when I was a kid. My parents could have cared less about flowers; they bought a big old wreck of a house for us and our big family from a family of passionate gardeners. The poor people were horrified to visit sometime later to see what 6 kids (and couldn't care less parents) could do to their version of the Botanical Gardens. The delicate peony bushes became 2nd base. Third base was this bush. Somehow, despite the intense abuse we rained on that backyard and the stunning array of flowers those good people left us, the garden came back year after year with the most extraordinary variety of flowers, bushes, including roses.
I loved this garden so much that my dream is to try to reproduce it. I would need more sun than I have now though.
Anyway, that bush you picture is definately Bridal Wreath spirea and it survived as third base for years and I loved it and its smell. Lucky you. That actually might be nice for my backyard too, come to think of it because it doesn't need much light.
Posted by: donatella at May 15, 2009 10:35 AM
Thanks Donatella. I wish I still had one of these at my house, but I wanted to know what it was, because I have fond childhood memories of my old home. I see them around Brooklyn, and will try to get another photo.
We had peonies too. Still one of my favorite flowers.
Posted by: Montrose Morris at May 15, 2009 10:48 AM
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