A bit of colour in an otherwise rather rubbish back garden. I have no idea what some of them are so any ideas would be welcome!
I’ve been rather busy organising the house and after the trauma of moving and a new grandson, the garden really has not been high on my list of priorities.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Wonderful pictures, Minty! Thanks for sharing!
Who cares what they are called – they look wonderful 🙂
Very pretty, Araminta. I’ll go for the easy ones and am pretty sure the second is a camellia and the third a hibiscus, as there are examples of both outside the Cave. The NSW will be back later this afternoon and I’m sure she will know some of the others.
OZ
I’ll have a go. But, as always, it is very difficult to identify when you do not have size and explicit foliage shots!
1. Alium for sure but it could be anything from chives to an ornamental. I’ll go for a small ornamental, is it about 12-14″ high? Flowers a bit off colour for chives.
2.Paeony.
3. Rhododendron. Not hibiscus OZ it does not have the same developed style and stigma in the centre of the stamens, Go and look, yours has a big furry end sticking out in the middle!
4. Spirea I am pretty sure.
5. this one is a bit of a puzzle. It looks for all the world to be hydrangea paniculata. But I am having a problem thinking it is flowering in May!!! Otherwise I’ll go for a viburnum with which I am unacquainted.
6. Same plant?
7. Looks like photina to me, is it a hedge? It generally is used for hedging. Otherwise it is seriously obscure unless you are living in a botanic garden!!
Lovely pictures as usual and shame on you for making me have to think this early in the morning!
Thank you, Christopher.
Sadly, the reality is not quite so wonderful, but it’s early days. 🙂
Thank you, Boadicea. I do enjoy photographing flowers and shrubs – they don’t move much unlike birds and people!
Thanks for that, OZ. I think Tina is right about No.2 – it’s a Paeony (or Peony, as I would call it- probably incorrectly). It’s not easy, as TIna said, to identify them from these close-ups.
Oh thank you, Tina. You are so good, and apologies for making you work so hard. I was rather more interested in the composition of the photos, so I wasn’t making the subjects easy to identify, I agree.
No 1. These are chives I’m pretty sure.
No 2. Yes, I think it probably is a Paeony – they seem to do well in this part of the world.
No 3. I think you could be right but they are quite small flowers so I thought it may be an azalea. I don’t know!
No 4. I really didn’t know with this one, but I suspect it is Spirea.
No 5. and No 6. This is very strange, I agree. I took this photo last month so the blossom has now gone and it now looks like some sort of Japanese Maple thingy.
The final one is not a hedge it’s more a tree although it is used for hedging by some of my neighbours. I’ve just googled photina and it does look very similar.
Thanks again, Tina. 🙂
PS. No 3 looks very much like this one:
http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/shrubs/azalea/azaleas-noteworthy-shrubs-for-any-garden.htm
Yes, the azalea name is generally used for all the deciduous members of the rhododendron genus. But just to make life difficult there is a series of very small evergreen rhododendrons that are also called azaleas!!!
5 and 6 are not in any of the common books of shrubs, most irritating, how big is this thing? It appeared to have 5 petals on the tiny flowers did you count, any other info would be useful.
Ah, I didn’t actually count, but it’s about 6ft or over.
I’ll take some more photos for you. Watch this space, and thank you again for taking the trouble. It is much appreciated!
A close up of the leaves:
I doubt if it anything unusual at all. The previous owners of this house were not keen gardeners at all!
Ah, I must apologise, looking a the original photos and having spent a couple of days recently doing some jungle clearance I can now see that the whole bloody thing had a rose of some sort intertwined with the tree or shrub, so that may not have helped!
I have now managed to separate the two!
For a second when looking at the first picture I thought it was a marijuana plant.
That wouldn’t surprise me actually, Christopher. I have lost count of the champagne corks I’ve cleared from the borders. I think the previous owners were a bit strange.
Oh, come on! We all know that you’re a closet Grateful Dead groupie!
Ooops it does have a passing resemblance to the sativa strain of weed as far as foliage, unfortunately close but no cigar!
I had worked out the rose foliage, now I can see it clearly will look in some other books. It has now become a bit of a challenge!
Thank you, Tina. It would be good to know if it’s legal!