Nigel rose admirably to the challenge and guessed correctly no’s 1, 2, and most amazingly 4 – and gets half-marks for nearly guessing no. 5, too. Well done that man. Here for those who are curious is the low-down on last week’s idents:

1.
Ruscus aculeatus – Butcher’s broom. Very useful plant to know as it grows in the deepest of deep shade and has some rather pretty red berries in autumn. Most interesting for me though was those flowers – the ‘leaves’ aren’t actually leaves at all, but modified flattened stems, and the flowers are borne right in the middle. Fascinating, and a little wierd.

2.
Chaenomeles speciosa ‘Nivalis’ – I used to grow this in my previous garden and the flowers are for me the most beautiful of all the Japanese quinces.

3.
Scilla mischtschenkoana – Pretty little thing, isn’t it? If you want to know the difference between this and the earlier-flowering Chionodoxa, or ‘Glory of the Snow’, look at the petals – scillas have a blue stripe down the middle, whereas the Chionodoxa don’t. At least, I think that’s the way round…

4.
Sequoiadendron giganteum – or more commonly, Californian redwood. Instantly recognisable as a tree – but this is the very lovely foliage. Slightly flattened and down-turned, and I think a bit of a revelation for those like me who haven’t got much further than looking with mouth agape at the trunk.

5.
Prunus ‘Okame’ – as Nigel said, there are so many flowering cherries and this could have been pretty much any one of them, so not really fair, but then who said this had to be fair?

There isn’t an ident for this week – we’re in the middle of a huge project at the moment (which is doing my head in and using up nearly every spare evening – my family is forgetting what I look like). So I thought, since we’re having a pause, that I’d hand out a few virtual bouquets to you virtuoso plantsmen and women out there:

Big bunch of blowsy roses to VP with 14 points
Consolation chrysanths (but nice ones that weren’t bought at the garage) to Nigel with 10
A handful of scented daffodils to Niels – 6
and a little posy of snowdrops to Anna – 5

back with some more wickedly annoying teasers soon….

A bit late this week but blame the spring lunacy that is my workload in the run-up to Chelsea… not quite as bad as those actually building gardens for the flower show but crazy nonetheless.

Anyway, just because I’m busy doesn’t mean I haven’t got time to set a few more plant-related teasers for you, courtesy of Capel Manor who supply the sometimes more than a little battered twigs, leaves and flowers from their garden in Enfield – no wonder they’re tatty by the time they get to us, the other side of London in Gunnersbury. Anyway, I thought last week’s were far too easy so I’m bowling you a few googlies this time.

1. (if you look very closely you’ll see the flowers – these are a giveaway clue)

2.

3.

4. (a bit unfair, really, as this is merely the foliage of a tree, but can you guess which one?)

5.
Enjoy!

Right, that’s enough holidaying. Back to school.

(and I’ll try to post about something else in between times otherwise this is going to become the plant ident blog….)

A word of warning – there’s no theme this time and the examples we were given were utter pants, especially since most were bulbs and had mostly turned into sad little droops of slime long before we got to look at them. So one or two I’ve had to re-photograph from my own garden 😀

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Have fun!

Well you could have been a little bit braver last week. Just one of you had a go at (correctly) guessing just one of the plants. Well done Anna. Here, for the rest of you, are the answers:

1. Hedera helix ‘Congesta’: upright form of ivy that grows like a shrub, to about 60cm high. Forms a very neat bush of dark green arrowhead-shaped leaves – but it’s quite hard to get hold of.

2. Hedera helix ‘Parsley Crested’, which used to be called H. h. ‘Cristata’, just to be annoying (that’s the name I knew it by). Lovely crinkly-edged margins to the leaves, and grows to about 2m.

3. Hedera colchica ‘Sulphur Heart’, which again went by another name once upon a time: this was H. c. ‘Paddy’s Pride’. This is a young shoot: the mature leaves are about 8″ long plus and big, floppy, ungainly things.

4. As Anna correctly guessed, this is Chimonanthus praecox – aka wintersweet.

5. And the last ivy: Hedera helix ‘Oro di Bogliasco’, an eye-catching if not eye-boggling combination of red stem, and yellow-and-green leaves. It’s got a neat habit but it’s a bit … erm… bright.

On to this week’s, and we got away from the twigs-on-desktops vibe and actually got outside for once. They aren’t quite so difficult this time, either, so I’m not giving you a clue apart from the last one which I hadn’t even heard of before, let alone grown. As a general clue: just remember all these plants are flowering now.

1. 2.

3.

4.

5. (clue: it’s evergreen, it has those little yellow flowers all winter, and it’s a neat little shrub about 2ft tall. )

Enjoy 😀