You got all the answers last week, so very well done to all who guessed right. We’ve been at a wholesale nursery, Rochfords, this week looking through their winter stock (generally a fine place, and I was particularly impressed that they do fruit bushes and trees as well as the usual suspects): so our plant idents came from container-grown plants waiting for sale.
Here goes:
(it’s only about 2ft high and has a lot in common with the answers to (2) and (3))
2. 
3. 
(it’s not the obvious cultivar – look closely at the stem colour)
4. 
(this shrub was inside the polytunnels and those flower buds open yellow)
5. 
You should be able to take a stab at nos 2 and 5 without any help from me. Enjoy!
Sally Nex 
Hmm Cornus aka dogwoods (1-3) may prove to be as tricky as the Hederas!When you say the not the obvious one for number 3, I can think of 2 obvious ones! So I’m going to plump for Cornus alba ‘Elegantissima’4 is Phlomis fruticosa5 Might be a Phorium
I like to challenge you VP :DWell done on no. 3: it is indeed Cornus alba ‘Elegantissima’. I once bought this by mistake thinking I’d bought C. a. ‘Sibirica’ and only realised when they came up this dull reddish shade in winter. Can’t entirely understand why you’d buy one knowingly, but there we are, that’s my prejudices coming out.I’m afraid no. 4 is not a Phlomis fruticosa… guess again!No. 5 is a Phormium, you’re right there – but which one?!
FYI, Have added a link for your blog to my BayAreaTendrils Blotanists. Wish I had time for the quiz, but I’m running to an appointment. Alice (I spy a phormium…and dogwoods?)
How about Phormium ‘Pink Stripe’ as the leaves are mainly green and most of the other striped ones are predominantly pink?The builders of our current house left us with 27 C a ‘Elegantissima’ in the narrow strip side garden we didn’t realise was ours until they installed the fence after we’d moved in! I find pruning each year keeps a lot of the duller red away and it does have more interest in the summer as the leaves are variegated.
Oh I forgot. Is number 2 Cornus sericea ‘Flaviramea’ aka Golden twig-dogwood?Haven’t a clue with number 1 as I don’t know of any dogwoods that are that short.
thanks for the link Alice :DSorry VP – it’s not Pink Stripe…BUT full marks for Cornus sericea ‘Flaviramea’! Lovely lime-green or gold coloured stems that look fabulous planted with bright red C. alba ‘Sibirica’ (again!)So, you’ve now guessed numbers 2 and 3. That just leaves the tricky ones…!by the way I’m afraid the other thing I hold against ‘Elegantissima’ is its variegated leaves. I really don’t like them and find them coarse and just wrong, somehow. Double whammy with the dull stems. Mind you there aren’t that many variegated plants I do like (another of my many prejudices!)
I have been looking at so many photos of phormiums that I am totally confused 🙂
Is number 4 an edgeworthia ?
Brilliant! Well done Anna! Only half a point so far though – I’ll need the whole name for this one….
Edgeworthia chrysantha methinks 🙂 Now i must confess that this was a pure fluke. I was visiting a post for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, where there was a photo of this plant with the flowers just opening and I thought now that looks familiar. It was the angle of the flower heads that convinced me 🙂