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ID on shrub


Betty LaRue

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I looked so long this afternoon, researching, until my head was splitting. Checked all the sources I could think of to find out what this shrub is.  It was taken here in Wichita, Kansas, USA near one of the businesses in a mall. This month, dead of winter. I thought it was Abelia x grandiflora when I saw it, because the leaves look much like that I took some years ago with little white tubular flowers on it that attracted butterflies.  And the leaves had this bronze color which was unusual.  I never went back there in the winter, so didn’t know if it made berries. 
Well, it’s not Abelia, anyway I can’t find any with berries. Is it Photinia? That’s what I have stuck on it but am very insecure.

Betty
 

2AP36RA.jpg

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2 hours ago, John Richmond said:

Betty, you mention in another thread that you have a spring picture of it in flower.  Any chance of posting that?

Sorry, I posted the pictures in the other thread, John, in response to your request there. I should have posted them here!!

Believe it or not, Mark, Pyracantha is one of the names I jotted down during my research.

These bushes had been made into a 30 foot hedge, trimmed to about 4 feet tall.

It could have been a better picture, but it’s somewhat of a miracle I got this. It was cold and windy, and the wind whipped so many tears from my eyes, almost making me blind with sun magnifying in the tears, that most of the pictures were taken by pointing the camera in a general direction and letting autofocus do its job. I’d shield my eyes from the sun with my right hand until I framed the shot, take my hand away, go blind, and take the shot.

I fussed at myself all the way driving home for going out on such a miserable day. But I’m still processing images from that shoot that aren’t half bad!
I’m not used to shooting semi-blind.

Betty

Sorry, tried and failed to link to the other thread.

 

Edited by Betty LaRue
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11 minutes ago, M.Chapman said:

I don't think it looks like a pyracantha in spring, the blossom isn't right and the leaves are too far apart IMHO. 

 

Mark

 

No, Mark, the two I just posted clearly aren’t the same shrub I posted for ID. I remembered the bronze color on the Abelia, which initially led me to think that my new image might be Abelia. But the Abelia I took in spring/summer years ago have green leaves with those smaller bronze ones that seem to be bunched around the flowers. 
The leaves on the new one with the berries are sturdy leaves, a bit thicker, and glossy compared to many leaves you see.

Ow, my head is hurting again! Sorry...that’s been going on for a long time. I need to see the doctor.....

Remember I never said the shrub in the flowering pictures is the same shrub with the berries, only that it was my mistaken initial impression.

Edited by Betty LaRue
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27 minutes ago, Betty LaRue said:

Ow, my head is hurting again! Sorry...that’s been going on for a long time. I need to see the doctor.....

 

I asked you to didn't I.

 

Please do.

 

Allan

 

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Thanks for the image post, Betty.  Definitely Abelia and not the one you're trying to ID.

 

I've never seen Pyracantha with reddish foliage but your climate is far harsher than here in South West England so it's possible.  The foliage shape and orange berries fit.  So I'm puzzled. Unless the hedge is actually a mixed hedge with Pyracantha and something else I can't ID to provide the red leaves.

Edited by John Richmond
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Thank you for trying, John. I probably should strip the caption and tags and put it up for deletion. I’m not nearly as good as you with plants. The last thing I want is to wrongly ID a plant. I love shooting plants, but the field requires the most work of all. Well...bugs are close. :lol:

Betty

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4 minutes ago, Betty LaRue said:

Thank you for trying, John. I probably should strip the caption and tags and put it up for deletion. I’m not nearly as good as you with plants. The last thing I want is to wrongly ID a plant. I love shooting plants, but the field requires the most work of all. Well...bugs are close. :lol:

Betty

I wouldn't put it up for deletion. Betty.  There's always a chance for a visit when it is in flower.  Maybe just minimal keywording and tagging as a placeholder until you can get an ID.

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By the way, the Abelia was taken in Will Roger’s park in Oklahoma City. The park had a lovely butterfly garden there, and the Abelia was the border around it. There were many other blooming plants and shrubs that were huge butterfly attractors, including trumpet vine.

Then somebody in charge in all their un-wisdom bulldozed the butterfly garden and allowed the Iris society to take over the land. Of course, iris doesn’t have a long blooming period, and when I visited, I never once saw a butterfly on one. Not saying they don’t visit, but I wasn’t willing to stand around in the hot sun waiting for an hour, perchance.

 

The first time I saw what they’d done, I went home and chewed nails, stomped around, said a few choice words, and every time I thought of it again, I repeated the action.

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1 minute ago, John Richmond said:

I wouldn't put it up for deletion. Betty.  There's always a chance for a visit when it is in flower.  Maybe just minimal keywording and tagging as a placeholder until you can get an ID.

Good idea, John. I’ll do that as “shrub with winter berries” 😊

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Betty, I found a site = http://www.louistheplantgeek.com/a-gardening-journal/1320-pyracantha-teton-121916 = which mentions that Pyracantha foliage can suffer winter browning in US hardiness zones of 7 and below.  You should be solidly in the even colder Zone 6 with Pyracantha nudging it's limits for hardiness.  It may be that's what you are seeing on your image.

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1 hour ago, John Richmond said:

Betty, I found a site = http://www.louistheplantgeek.com/a-gardening-journal/1320-pyracantha-teton-121916 = which mentions that Pyracantha foliage can suffer winter browning in US hardiness zones of 7 and below.  You should be solidly in the even colder Zone 6 with Pyracantha nudging it's limits for hardiness.  It may be that's what you are seeing on your image.

Very interesting read. In a week or so when the weather is better, I’ll wait for a somewhat less windy day (the best I

can hope for) and drive the 15 miles across town to see the color of the leaves and state and color of the pomes. See, I learned something. 😁 

I will also look for thorns.

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2 minutes ago, Betty LaRue said:

I will also look for thorns.

Look, don't touch.  They're very painful.  I speak from experience*.

 

^Though not as bad as the spines on the Canary Island date palm I had to remove after a hard winter killed a nice young specimen in my own garden.  The wounds throbbed for two months.

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31 minutes ago, John Richmond said:

Look, don't touch.  They're very painful.  I speak from experience*.

 

^Though not as bad as the spines on the Canary Island date palm I had to remove after a hard winter killed a nice young specimen in my own garden.  The wounds throbbed for two months.

 

Beware of the infamous Spikeyfolia prickythumbia plant...

 

Mark

Edited by M.Chapman
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1 hour ago, M.Chapman said:

 

Beware of the infamous Spikeyfolia prickythumbia plant...

 

Mark

You guys! :D

I haven’t liked being stuck since I turned a corner to fast on my tricycle and got dumped in a bed of goatheads. Hands, knees, feet...and a 5 year old screaming her head off unable to move.

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10 hours ago, M.Chapman said:

 

Beware of the infamous Spikeyfolia prickythumbia plant...

 

Mark

Yes, plant and garden photography is incredibly dangerous, with thorns aplenty, numerous poisonous plants and the risk of being slapped across the face with wet branches.  So dangerous that I feel that Alamy should reward we intrepid specialists with higher commission rates to recognise the risk. 😀

 

Edit.  Forgot the carnivorous plants.  The risk increases.  I'm going back to bed,

Edited by John Richmond
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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks, y’all! I was back over there a week ago and couldn’t find that particular hedge. My daughter was driving, so I didn’t make her comb the 5 acre shopping center since we were there for dinner.

Ahhh, the boredom of non-photographers. How could she not get excited hunting for a hedge full of berries? Huh? Huh?

Betty

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