Anyone kind enough to tell me what this tree is...

[Tigertrees]

Well I think it's a tree. It's growing out of a hedge we have - I'm trying to decide whether to cut it or leave it to grow, but would be helpful to know more about what it is! Thank you

Here it is..

I think we'll need a photo...

X-post! Sorry, no idea.

You’ll need to photo leaves more closely.

Can you take a photo of the bark as well?

Sorry it doesn't grow horizontally, despite the picture!
I will go out and get better shots tomorrow Neighbours were in the garden today and I didn't want to look like a was taking pictures of them through the hedge.

Buddleia?

Has it white flower cone shaped buds on it op? Looks like buddeia to me to.

Also if it is buddleia, they grow up to about ten feet, and you can chop them right back and they come back again. They are fairly indestructible and you see them often at railway stations. They have a bit of a bad rep but I’ve a couple and they fill space and can be quite pretty.

Hiya!

It looks like an Elder which is a native british tree which produces elderflowers (the ones that elderflower cordial is made from) and elderberries, which can be used to make (rank imho) wine. They are very good for wildlife, and quite beautiful in their way, but can grow quite dominating.

www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/elder/

Hard to be sure of course from the photo but it is a likely candidate!

Hope this helps

Elly

I can't see flowers on it - the leaves look a bit white in the photo. Same pic just a bit larger!
Thanks for the replies

It is Elder (Sambucas nigra) - a naturalised shrub, introduced I believe, like so many other things, by the Romans. They pop up all over the place, the seeds being deposited everywhere by birds pooing them out after eating the berries!

Oh might be an elder or buddleia, I will look both of those up. It just seems to have appeared from nowhere which intrigued me!

The flowers should be appearing soon - they do not smell very nice, despite flowering profusely it is ignored by bees, and, years ago, the old horsemen on farms used to put sprigs of it in their horses headbands to keep flies away! The flowers do make a nice cordial or homemade wine though and the berries can be used to make jams, jellies or, again, wine. It frequently grows in hedges and in woodland glades, grows very rapidly, but usually remains as a shrub rather than growing into a full sized tree. Superstition has it that it is bad luck to bring it indoors - it is allegedly the tree from which Judas hanged himself after betraying Jesus!

Yes @Tigertrees, they do appear out of nowhere! Birds sit in hedges, pass the seeds out in their poo and, before you know it, you have an Elder growing in your hedge!

That's so interesting thank you.
The only other bush in my back garden is a St. John's wort so I could in theory be making tea and wine then! Though a bit beyond my powers I think though who knows if lockdown continues
The last time I had a mystery plant appear in a former home it turned out to be leylandii.

(I'm aware I sound very ill informed, thanks for allowing me to pop over to gardening)

We have a couple of elders in our garden, we didn't plant them. They grow very quickly.

If I just leave it alone, will it grow a lot higher? Wider? I'd say the very top is about 8ft high at the moment, but it's not very wide at all (not sure what it's up to below hedge line)

Oh I see the light leaves look like flowers on a buddleia.

@Tigertrees, yes, if left alone it will grow both upwards and outwards - they tend to produce lots of shoots from the base, if it gets enough light, and can become invasive, shading out the hedge and causing it to die back - although they are beneficial from a wildlife perspective I would not personally want one growing within a garden hedge. Just a personal view! As a 'stand alone' shrub in the garden maybe, and there are some very attractive cultivated varieties with purple foliage.

it is allegedly the tree from which Judas hanged himself after betraying Jesus
Ahem, do you mind?
Yes, anything appearing rapidly out of a hedge at this time of year is going to be elder. The flowers and berries are very lovely but, I have to say, I don’t love the leaves, particularly new growth leaves. Elderflower cordial is very easy to make if you do keep it. Coincidentally, DH and I have spent the best part of the day cutting out three huge elders, from the base, from two yews and a holly as they’d taken over. Quite invasive if in an inappropriate position.

@Judashascomeintosomemoney - no offence meant
Normally I would be very quick to endorse anything in a garden which is wildlife beneficial, I have an 'issue' with wildflowers being described as 'weeds', many are very beautiful and, were one to buy them from a nursery or garden centre, one would be proud of them and nurture them - just because they are not cultivated as a saleable commodity does not make them undesireable!
Equally, I hate to see garden hedges being manicured all through the spring and summer - peak bird nesting time - and, I am sure if people could see the absolute havoc that their tidy mindedness causes, they would desist! Farmers are not permitted to cut their hedges from 1st March to 31st July for that very reason (except in exceptional circumstances, for public safety, alongside roads where vision is poor), the same law should, in my view, apply to domestic and garden hedges. But I am digressing, going off on a tangent and riding my hobbyhorse!

Oh don’t worry, thoroughly checked the yews and the holly, nothing nesting in there yet. The bay hedges are another matter and everything will be left from this point on. In fact without the elder the yews should do better and provide more cover, they’d got a bit sparse. They’re only two of about thirty and we’re very lucky with the amount of wildlife we have (though could do with out the field mice that have just moved in under the stairs ). I agree about the ‘weeds’ too. Unless they’re completely out of control, I leave them be.

Elder. Not a buddleia which has simple leaves, whereas your leaves are divided into leaflets.

they do not smell very nice, despite flowering profusely it is ignored by bees, and, years ago, the old horsemen on farms used to put sprigs of it in their horses headbands to keep flies away! I think they must smell differently to different people. The flowers can be dipped in batter and fried , or made into elderflower cordial or "champagne".

I though it was the Judas Tree, Cercis siliquastrum, that Judas hanged himself on?