Re-discoveries

[MereDintofPandiculation]

I've just found a whole Skimmia bush, about 1m high, almost completely hidden inside a huge clump of Pernettya. If you peek through the branches in one particular direction, you can just see a branch with a cluster of flower buds.

I now have to decide which I prefer - the Pernettya with its huge cluster of white berries, which will remain on the bush almost until next year's berries arrive; or the Skimmia with its scented white flowers in spring and red berries in autumn.

Has anyone else re-discovered a long lost plant in their garden?

Can you dig them up and separate them, if you love both ?

When we moved in, we found a P. serotina growing through what I think was some form of Euonymus.

We kept it, but it's growing at a 45 degree angle so may spend the rest of its life staked to keep it upright!

Is the Skimmia a good shape? If its looking a bit lopsided due to growing through something else that might help make a decision (though maybe that's just because I think shaping bushes is some sort of black magic...)

Can you dig them up and separate them, if you love both? No! It's a pretty dense planting. The Pernettya is actually a mass of three 3 plants, red berries, white berries and a male pollinator, in total at least 2m diameter and 1.5m high. The Skimmia is in the middle. Round the edge are other precious plants - it's best to think of it as trying to dig a plant out of the middle of a rather thick hedge. They've all been there nearly 30 years. And the Pernettya has tough leaves with sharp points.

Is the Skimmia a good shape? I imagine not. I can't see enough to tell. But the planting is so dense it doesn't really matter. I've gone for a dense mass of luxuriant vegetation rather than neat domes of bushes with gaps in between.

In summer the whole area will be overtaken with berried catchfly, a most beautiful plant, almost lime green leaves shading at the tips to dark black-purple. Beautiful white petalled flowers followed by black berries. I've tried establishing elsewhere in the garden but this is the spot it really likes.

So I'm going to have a go at pruning the front half of the Pernettya, sad as it will be to cut off all those huge clumps of white berries.

P. serotina Prunus serotina? That's a lovely thing, you must have been pleased with that find.

I like the sound of Catchfly, I have never seen this plant, I will get some.

It's an annual but selfseeds every year. It likes moist soil and semi shade. Over the course of the season it will grow to nearly two metres, sprawling over bushes. It's not a showy plant, but the colour combination is lovely and the flowers are attractive close-up. And it's just so strange to have a catchfly or campion with round shiny black berries, which is why I bought it in the first place, all those years ago.
Silene baccifera (sun Cucubalus baccifer).

I have just bought one using your link so thanks for that.

Yes, Prunus serotina. Its gorgeous, and the birds seem to love it. It's starting to fill out now that's its not constructed - it was really whippy when we first found it.

Not sure I'll be able to ever correct it's weird hump from growing sideways though!

@thirteenbooks

Yes, Prunus serotina. Its gorgeous, and the birds seem to love it. It's starting to fill out now that's its not constructed - it was really whippy when we first found it.

Not sure I'll be able to ever correct it's weird hump from growing sideways though!

My garden is a complete record of my physical and mental health over the years - eg there is the canker because 25 years ago I didn’t release a tree tie when I should have done.