The second ones (the "ball" bushes- yes, lots of jokes) have been there for years. They look nice all trimmed up, but I don't know what they are.
Help? :-)
TIA
The first looks to be a spiraea of some type, possibly one of the bulmalda hybrids. The second is most probably a dogwood - the leaves are pretty distinctly in the Cornus family - maybe Cornus racemosa or gray dogwood, which is common to your area. Just a personal observation, but they would look better untrimmed - and you would get a lot more flowering, too.
pam - gardengal
I agree with Pam on the first one, but to my eye the leaves on the second look more like common buckthorn, an obnoxious invasive plant that has been sold as a hedge plant. I'd recommend removal, and barring that, keep pruning them mercilessly to limit flowering and fruit.
spots- hard to do with 13 old oaks on the property. Some of my neighbors also think that my "balls" are just common wild bushes that have been trimmed nicely. Probably due to the constant pruning, I've never seen them flower, which really is all right by me. My wife's kind of grown attached to them (whoa- lots of jokes here) so I'll have to keep them. I moved into this house 4 years ago and have been trying to identify things since. Thanks again.
The first looks more like hypericum than spirea, and the second is definitley rhamnus cathartica, common buckthorn, probably placed there by the birds.
Toad
The area that I'll put those in gets maybe a few hours of morning dappled sunlight through the trees and about 3-4 of direct afternoon sun. Probably not the best to thrive in, but it's the best I can do on my property.
The birds must've had a tape measure since the balls are at even intervals around where used to be a dutch elm (removed ~7-8 yrs ago?) Regardless, I wonder: are there species that were once heavily intentionally planted that are now considered a nuisance? Seems that buckthorn is now one. I'd love to replace the balls with maybe dwarf magnolias- but my wife cries pretty much anytime I pull a weed! ;-)
Thx Toad
I don't know if it could be hypericum based on the zone.
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