Jeez. Sheesh. Plant ID requires many things.

1. Prunus lusitanica
2. Prunus lusitanica
3. Maybe Prunus lusitanica
4. maybe a Vitex
5. Hard to tell. Ceanothus of some sort. 'Ray Hartman'?
6. Middle: Cerastium tomentosum. Not enough detail for others.
7. Looks familiar.
8. Maybe some sort of Lonicera
9. Rose of Sharon maybe.

10. Ligustrum spp. Glossy?

Gardengal or jean or bboy surely can fill in what I can't see or missed while distracted by 'Five Farms' and a decent Zin.

Dan

Pretty close, Dan :-)

1. Dwarf English laurel, Prunus laurocerasus, probably 'Otto Luyken'
2. ditto
3. English laurel, probably 'Compacta' (leaves don't look large enough for standard laurel)
4. not sure....could be Vitex but it's not very common here
5. Ceanothus thrysiflorus 'Victoria'
6. Need close up of the far left shrub to confirm, but looks like Japanese holly. Middle is Cerastium tomentosum. Far right look like a sheared Chamaecyparis pisifera.
7. Bloomed out pink is Helianthemum nummularia, sunrose. Blue spruce behind left, looks like Euonymus fortunei peeking out directly behind.
8. Viburnum tinus
9. Hibiscus syriacus, rose of Sharon

10. waxleaf privet, Ligustrum japonicum or lucidum

Oh, yes that's right - I couldn't remember that 'Otto Luyken' that's everywhere all over the PNW (selective memory). Good job on the sunrose - mine here don't look like that - even with my glasses off.

:o)

Dan

The cause for pause with the 'Otto Luyken' is although the specimens shown have the habit of that one the leaves look different in these shots.

If the vitex does not prove to be a good blue form it should probably be removed, these are large-growing and may be late or slow to bloom here - a poor pale form would not be worth the space it took.

The ceanothus much sold and planted here as 'Victoria' (it is a hybrid and not a pure form of C. thyrsiflorus) is possibly correctly called 'Skylark'.

The blue conifer looks like Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Blue Feathers'. Although it becomes more vertical and open later I just planted a similar small specimen that I don't think was sheared. The one I grew before was also dense at first.

The pink sun rose may be 'Rhodanthe Carneum' (syn. 'Wisley Pink').

The privet is L. japonicum, maybe a cultivar such as 'Texanum'.

I don't intend to split hairs by offering differing opinions, but the photos of the first two laurels look like every other 'Otto Luyken' I've ever seen, so not at all sure what the confusion might be.

As to the ceanothus, I am also confused as to why one considers 'Victoria' to be the same or synonymous with 'Skylark'. The mature size of 'Victoria' would seem to negate that - 'Skylark' is typically considered a compact ceanothus, achieving a height of about 5' (one source states 3'x3') and about as wide or slightly wider. Victoria easily reaches double that size. And I've yet to locate a resource that confirms 'Victoria' is a hybrid - most sources and vendors are pretty unanimous in it being a cultivar of thrysiflorus. 'Skylark' may very well be a hybrid - its origins are a little sketchy - but I seriously doubt the two are the same plant.

And having grown and sold C. obtusa 'Blue Feathers' for years, I have to say the shrub in question looks nothing like any other 'Blue Feather's I've seen. While it can be semi-globose when young, it still tends to have sprays or 'feathers' of foliage, rather than the congested and evenly rounded appearance of that little blue ball.

But as Dan states, plant ID by photo only, and none too distinct or detailed a photo at that, is often risky and opinions will vary. The only way you can confirm for sure is to take the photos AND adequate samples to a good retail nursery or the local extension office.

Thanks so much to everyone for your help and advice. I'm sorry the pictures weren't the best, I should have focused on just one of each, instead of trying to group some of them, and maybe gotten closeups of leaves. I figured there would be people here who were much more knowledgeable than I, and might recognize certain ones right away. I understand that none of the IDs here are definitive. There was a part of me that was hoping maybe those weren't laurel, cause the leaves do seem a bit smaller than the ginormous ones growing here at our rental house. Oh well....

I can't make up my mind whether to engage a design firm with a horticulturist to help me mold the garden into something more to my liking or what. I'm not a big fan of meatball-shaped shrubs.

I can't make up my mind whether to engage a design firm with a horticulturist to help me mold the garden into something more to my liking or what. I'm not a big fan of meatball-shaped shrubs.

There is a non-profit there that an old GF used to volunteer for that tries to re-introduce natives to the urbanized landscape, the ED at the time was very knowledgeable and we discussed the spp changes with man-made climate change..anyway, lots of knowledge there. I'll try to find a file and get the name.

Larger point: paying for knowledge? No.

Dan

Well, given my druthers, I would much prefer to have some native shrubs -- Viburnums, oakleaf hydrangea, physocarpus, sambucus canadensis, shrubby dogwoods, etc. The only thing I like here is that little blue spruce.

How ridiculous would it be to get rid of all of this and start over? Has anyone ever done that? I'd need to hire someone with a backhoe. I'm not a pro-native snob or purist, I like collecting interesting plants, but I just don't particularly like most of these. I didn't photograph the ones I recognized -- three little "supermarket" rhodies/azaleas, and a Buddleia (which the butterflies do love, but it's considered a noxious invasive here -- and of course it's huge.)

Lots of people rip it out and start over, that was ~1/2 my jobs with my landscape business in Sacramento.

You might want to think about going over the the UW and grabbing a LArch student for design help - altho IME there a lot of them are weak on actual plant knowledge, there are a few there that should have had real plant training (in the College of Arch and Urb Planning). At the very least you can go over to the CUH and see what they have over there.

I can't find the name of that non-profit, BTW. Apologies.

Dan

Hi Dawiff,
Assuming you are our former New England forum poster, I went all nostalgic when I saw your name! Hope all is well and you haven't met a slug that is taller than you! If you can take a picture of your new property and tell us about it on the NE forum I'm sure a lot of your New England friends would be glad.

And if you are not that dawiff, well hello anyway!
idabean

>I don't intend to split hairs by offering differing opinions, but the photos of the first two laurels look like every other 'Otto Luyken' I've ever seen, so not at all sure what the confusion might be>Dwarf English laurel, Prunus laurocerasus, probably 'Otto Luyken'>As to the ceanothus, I am also confused as to why one considers 'Victoria' to be the same or synonymous with 'Skylark'. The mature size of 'Victoria' would seem to negate that - 'Skylark' is typically considered a compact ceanothus, achieving a height of about 5' (one source states 3'x3') and about as wide or slightly wider. Victoria easily reaches double that size. And I've yet to locate a resource that confirms 'Victoria' is a hybrid - most sources and vendors are pretty unanimous in it being a cultivar of thrysiflorus. 'Skylark' may very well be a hybrid - its origins are a little sketchy - but I seriously doubt the two are the same plantThe origin of 'Skylark' remains ambiguous. Introduced by Mitch [sic] Nursery of Aurora, Oregon, the cultivar filtered through West Coast nursery channels until it was finally named by M. Nevin Smith with 'a desire to distinguish it from others in the trade' (Smith 1979). Parentage is thought to be Ceanothus thyrsiflorus var. thyrsiflorus x C. velutinus, which is consistent with the broad physical characteristics of the plant. It is believed by many to be the same plant grown in the nursery trade as C. thyrsiflorus 'Victoria'.

Dense and compact, 'Skylark' has a dome-shaped form to 4 feet tall and 6 feet wide...

--Fross/Wilken, Ceanothus (Timber Press)

The dimensions given are of course not cast in stone or frozen in time, especially for such fast-growing shrubs. 4' x 6' would approximate a plant acquired as 'Victoria' I grew for a few years on Camano Island fairly well. Another specimen from the same source, planted in a different part of the property has not yet grown so broadly relative to its height.

Two one gallon plants purchased from Emery's Garden as 'Skylark' and 'Victoria' were completely interchangeable at that stage of development. Since then growth on the hot sandy planting site has been slow, and one of them may have been lost beneath an overwhelming growth of weeds.

>And having grown and sold C. obtusa 'Blue Feathers' for years, I have to say the shrub in question looks nothing like any other 'Blue Feather's I've seenAs far as can be seen in the picture it looks quite like another specimen I just planted.

Hi idabean,

Yep, it's me! All is well here, we are in the process of buying a new house (and garden) after approximately a year of living in a rental house in North Seattle. I LOVE it here, especially considering all I have heard about the cold and very wet spring and summer you are having back home! We are having an early warm and dry summer here, so I haven't seen any huge slugs, in fact, a couple came out after a little rain the other day and promptly dried out on my front walk! In the past when I visited here I did see some rather monstrous and disgusting banana slugs! I have been rather creeped out by earwigs, though. I haven't seen a lot of damage from them on the annuals I planted here, but a couple have gotten into the house. Ugh!

I'll take you up on your offer when we close on the house, in mid-August, and come back to the NE forum and show it off! Nice to be remembered!

ONly a couple in the house? In New Hampshire they were a regular summer feature. Funny though, here in MA I never see an earwig in the house. I am very glad to hear you love where you are planted. Best of luck, and looking forward to your future posts.
idabean

the blue spruce is nice-------but, way too clost to the house.