Unsung heroes..

I wandered along this pathway -
and noticed a most beautiful perfume. Nothing spectacular to see... just a few green bits - Euonymus emerald n`gold, variegated ivy - no flowers....
I was actually doing the daily ''collect the dog poo'' routine !!

The Pittosporum is in bloom. Insignificant flowers - you have to look hard to see them, but the perfume fills the air.

Do you have a special 'unsung hero' too?

 

I used to have a Prunus Padus tree. The scent from the flowers used to really be overpowering at times.

 

Evening Mike, yes the bird cherry is a valuable one indeed and has a lovely scent. Did you know there is a variety with purple leaves? The bees love the flowers, and the birds love the berries!

 

Hi Tetters, past your bedtime lass. Yes the flowering cherries is a vast family. Sad to say. My garden has become the stomping ground for the local cat population. At one time the bird visitors was reall good, now even butterflies enter at their peril. Back to my Prunus. I actually 'borrowed' from the garden of a house that I once worked at. Having cut it down a few years ago. Strange. Next door neighbour has several saplings. I wonder where they came from. wink.

 

@Tetters I noticed the same thing, our pittosporum are flowering too, we were actually surprised to see them flowering so prolifically because the pittosporum hadn't been looking their best lately, becoming quite thin in parts, we weren't sure they were doing too well, but they are flowering beautifully so hopefully they're going to be ok.

 

Snap! I think the very cold weather gave them some punishment - and now they are putting all their efforts into creating the flowers. Are they trying to tell us something

 

Ahh good, I'm glad it's not just ours then. Well, they seem to be enjoying the sunshine now.
How tall are yours? We were actually thinking of removing some of the lower branches and under planting with some ferns or lower growing shrubs to fill out the border a bit as the thinning has left some patchy areas. Not sure if they'd react well to that or not though?

 

You can see the size of my three shrubs on the original post. I would not choose to turn them into ''lollipops'' and would probably only do that with really tough stuff like privet - or holly.
Actually I`m a bit concerned about the brown mottling on the leaves ??

 

Your shrubs look fine at the size and shape they are.

I only "lollipop" our large and small acers, as they both are demonstrating prodigious growth.

With the larger one I've actually removed some lower branches, to allow light to enter both our diningroom bay window and that of our neighbours. After thirty years in its present position, without regular pruning it would be as tall as the house and touching the bedroom windows.

Likewise I don't want the smaller one to dominate the bed near our back fence

 

Ah, ours are maybe 8ft ish, they've recently had a bit pruned off the top, I think ours are becoming more 'tree' and less 'shrub' now, as we've not really ever pruned them before this year. They're much less dense than yours which I can see now sorry, don't know how I missed them! So I think it would look more like a back layer in the border with pittosporum 'trees' and then a lower shrub layer in front. Unsure yet, but glad yours and mine are flowering, and definitely agree on them being unsung heroes

 

Well now I think we need to see a nice photo of them please.... how about a 'before' and 'after' set

 

Now I know Linaria purpurea is meant to be a "weed" and it sprouts up everywhere if you let it but I just love it. It's such a good bee plant too and I like it's mini snapdragon like flowers. Pic is off the net.