What is this shrub?

Could someone tell me what this shrub is please? It had a label when it was a foot high but it's gone a-wandering. I had vaguely thought it was called syringa but looking it up that is lilac and this most definitely isn't a lilac. Maybe it begins with an "s"?! Was trying to look it up to see if it could be pruned in the spring. Not a brilliant picture as it has lost most of its leaves.

 

Looks like Spiraea to me.

 

It's got the compact shape and habit of a Spirea, but to me the leaves look a bit like those of Philadelphus.
In either case, best not to prune it in the spring. Wait until after it's flowered.
For Spirea, this could be any time from April to mid-summer depending on the variety.
If it's Philadelphus, it would flower around June and could be pruned after then.

Looking at the photo again, another possibility is the winter flowering honeysuckle, Lonicera fragrantissima. Should be easy to tell if it is; have a closer look at the plant, if it has lots of small, creamy white very fragrant flowers open right now then it's Lonicera.

 

Trunky I'm with you, I think it's Philadelphus.

 

Looks like Philadelphus to me too. Sometimes commonly known as Syringa.

 

Scillonian, Syringa is lilac. Philadelphus is commonly know as Mock Orange.

 

I know Syringa is the latin name for lilac. like I said though, sometimes Philadelphus is called syringa as its common name. This is where the confusion has arisen with fuchsialady

 

I must admit I`ve always known Philadelphus to be called Mock Orange never known it to be called Syringa. However, it could be a local name.

 

I agree with Dai on this.
I have never heard of Philadelphus (common name mock orange) called Syringa (common name lilac)as a common
name.

Both Philadelphus and Syringa are the latin Botanical names and refer to 2 different plants that are not related.

Philadelphus are related to Hydrangea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mock-orange


Syringa are related to Olives.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syringa

It is often safer to stick with the latin version of names than the many local common names.

 

So, so true.

 

Here's a close up of the leaves which neither fuchsialady or myself it appears:gaagh: could get to attach to a new reply

[IMGLINK]http://i.imgur.com/yIKF6l.jpg[/IMGLINK]

 

Yup, definately a philadelphus then.

Silversurfer,
thank you for the links explaining the difference between philadelphus and syringa, but you did not actually read them yourself.:DOH: I have extracted a paragraph from the first one for your perusal (below)

. An entirely misleading name for Philadelphus that is sometimes encountered is syringa; this properly refers to the lilacs, which are fairly close relatives of jasmine. The connection of the two shrubs lies in their introduction from Ottoman gardens to European ones,

 

Before I had trouble with the getting the photo uploaded, I was going to say Spiraea rang a bell and that I didn't think I had a Philadelphus in my garden but as my Mum planted out much of that part of the garden, I really couldn't be sure. Thanks for your identification skills and thanks to the moderators for sorting me out. I'd better get my labeller out before I forget again!