Re: Mystery plants

Hmmm- had no idea that a clethra could be a tree!  I love learning new 
plant things!
I'm still not sure about #2/4-  just doesn't really look quite right 
from the pics I found.
I agree about chopping out the ceders- there are other cedars on the 
property- she won't miss those 2.  I told her to get rid of them before 
I even knew that the little tree would get to be a really big tree!

Thanks again!
Theresa (who has had enough of this week and wants it to end- so is 
enjoying a nice glass of Tomintoul 16 yr old scotch neat.)

Christopher P. Lindsey wrote:
>> #1/#6 flowers do look like clethra, but it definitely isn't a shrub- it 
>> has a trunk and is about 8 feet tall with a typical tree shape (I saw it 
>> in May- before it bloomed).
>>     
>
> Clethra alnifolia can get 8' high and look treeish, so I'm still going to
> stick with that.  :)
>
>   
>> #2/#4- flowers are much bigger than nepeta (I know it is impossible to 
>> know this from the picture).  They are similar in size to physostegia 
>> (obediant plant)- think I slaughtered the spelling there.
>>     
>
> Nepeta subsessilis does have large flowers -- they can be an inch long on
> plants up to 4' high.  So I'm going to stick with this guess too.  :)
>
> (It's a pretty cool plant that I hope to have an inventory sometime)
>
>   
>> #3-  I assumed this was some kind of azalea/rhododendron.  The plant is 
>> the right size and shape, even if the flowers aren't that exciting.  
>> Again- having some sense of scale would have helped you.  Any further 
>> guesses, given this new info about size?
>>     
>
> Not really.  Since I can't grow them, I have nothing to relate to.  :(
>
>   
>> #6 is some kind of phlox.  You are right it looks very much like 'Bill 
>> Baker'- and I suspect the picture was taken earlier and just finally got 
>> sent to me with the rest of her mysteries.  I'm counting this one as solved!
>>     
>
> Cool!
>
>   
>> #7 is a big mystery. Some kind of foundation shrub.
>>     
>
> Wow!  So it's definitely a hardy plant there?  I thought that it might've
> been some sort of tropical species.
>
> I like to think that I know woody plants, but this one has me, err, 
> stumped.
>
>   
>> I think you nailed #8- thank you.  Good lord, that tree is plants in 
>> between 2 ceders (they are maybe 5ft on either side of it).  Wait until 
>> I tell my sister that it is going to grow to be 30 ft tall!  She said 
>> that the japanese beetle love this tree- so maybe it won't get that big??
>>     
>
> Awesome!
>
> They are kind of slow growing, but kind of nice.  Here the beetles don't
> touch it, but we have lots of birches that they prefer.  Maybe Boston is
> too warm for birches?
>
> It is a great tree and worth cutting out the cedars for.  :)  Or at 
> least limbing them up; it does well in an understory as well.
>
> Chris
>
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