Hello, I now live in FL where I am again indulging my weedscaping ways just like I used to do in St. Louis. The weather, plants and driving customs are a little different down here, but this is the ID forum, so I'll set that aside for the moment. There are some planters on the back deck, and I have 3 mystery shrubs which have sprung up. 2 of the three are the same species, and they are in one planter growing right next to each other. They are getting a little bigger each week, and I've really enjoyed watching them since they were just sprouts. Of course, these could be trees, I don't know why but I'm guessing they are shrubs. Photo # 1: 2 un ID'd shrubs - wide view ( photo / image / picture from Weedscaper's Garden ) Photo # 2: 2 un ID'd shrubs - wide view ( photo / image / picture from Weedscaper's Garden ) Photo # 3: 2 beautiful un ID'd shrubs ( photo / image / picture from Weedscaper's Garden ) lPhoto # 4: leaves of un ID'd shrub ( photo / image / picture from Weedscaper's Garden ) Photo # 5: 2 Beautiful un ID'd shrubs ( photo / image / picture from Weedscaper's Garden ) These new red leaves might help ID this plant. Photo # 6: new red leaves of un ID'd shrub ( photo / image / picture from Weedscaper's Garden ) I had thought all 3 shrubs were the same, but when I went out to take pics for this post, I noticed that the little singleton is clearly not be the same species as the two taller ones. Photo # 7: 2nd un ID's Shrub ( photo / image / picture from Weedscaper's Garden ) This shrub isn't growing nearly as fast as the other species. Also, to be definitely sure that this plant was not the same species as the other, I got out a magnifying glass and compared the vascular structure of each. The veins in the leaves of the other plant are white-ish and a "blocky" pattern. I'm hopeful that someone can identify, especially the "tall two-some" I have going. I suspect they may want to be transplanted before too long. I suppose I should separate them when I do? Photo #8: Small Shrub leaf veiw ( photo / image / picture from Weedscaper's Garden ) Thanks to anyone who can assist.
I have identified the 2nd shrub......sort of. Our hedge trimmer came by and trimmed the hedge yesterday morning. Photo 9: Hedge (before trimming) ( photo / image / picture from Weedscaper's Garden ) After the trimmer left, I was out visiting a fern I transplanted from the yard into a planter on Monday. I got to looking at a cutting from the hedge left on the lawn, and saw that it is a match to the 2nd, small shrub. Earlier I had compared the little shrub and the mature hedge and decided they were nearly, but not the same species. This is because most of the leaves on the mature hedge have an elongated tip as this picture shows: Photo 10: Hedge leaves with elongated tip. ( photo / image / picture from Weedscaper's Garden ) But not all of them. The cutting I saw on the ground was the same shape as my little volunteer in the planter shown above in photos 7 and 8. So, while I don't know the name of it, I can see now that somehow the big hedge reproduced itself in the planter. I'd like to know the name of it, but at least I have some idea of what it will do if and when I transplant it. Until I learn its actual name, I will just call it "Hedgeplant." And now I find myself curious about the sex lives of hedges. Maybe I can find a video.
The leaves in your last shot look extraordinarily like those of my Ficus benjamina. Mine is a houseplant here in the UK but whether or not it could become a hedging plant in other climates I have no idea...
I agree with Kiasmum. I think it is a fig tree. They are often grown in FL as hedges. They can get quite tall. Could the other plant be a citrus relative?
So, You have moved, huh? how do you like the weather and life there? I am sure it is much different than zone 5 for plants. I do agree (although I had no idea ficus was used as hedges there) that it does look like a ficus and a citrus of some kind. I had an orange tree that I brought home from Fl a long time ago and it eventually died due to the cold last year out in my greenhouse, but crush a leaf and smell it. They have a distinct citrusy smell, but that won't tell you what it is specifically AND my tree had wicked thorns on the branches at each leaf node. You might want to check out a garden center there and just peruse their plants and shrubs to see what looks similar and compare them...but take a branch along with you so you have an actual specimen to compare it to, not just your memory.
You guyz are good! I talked to my yardman yesterday, and he said the little one was a ficus. He told me that it can either be a tree or a hedge. I looked carefully inside the hedge, and saw a good sized trunk, probably 4 inches in diameter. As for the tall twosome, he could not name the plant, but he told me that it is used just like the ficus down here. Carolyn, just for grins I tried your scratch n' sniff idea anyway, and as expected, no citrus scent. I am considering making a house plant out of either one of them, and there is a barren area near the front door which has an opening as well. As to how I like South Fl, it is a mixed bag. The Palm Beach Post is much more interesting than the St. Louis Post Dispatch, and as you might imagine, that's not a good thing. The everglades push up against the counties down here south of lake Okeechobee. You cannot "go west, young man." It is more a "zero sum game." Residents in this area pay the highest percentage of their earnings toward housing in the USA. Since I've been in town, we have been burglarized once, and the next door neighbor too. Florida is still one of the worst in the nation for pedestrian fatalities, and that's despite making great improvements in recent years. The speed limit on the major local roads is 45 mph. Many people take the customary additional 5 mph which the police allow, and angrily pass others who don't. The impact of not having a basement for storage space on one's life is significant. My impression of the residents I have gotten to know is this: they never go to the beach, they stay the hell out of the sun, and they never open their windows.
