I posted this on the plant identification forum, but no one seems to know. I just wondered if it is a well known character in Texas. It is a volunteer and seems nice enough.
Anyone know what this shrub/tree is?
I can't tell, maybe it is something common in south Texas, they said it looked like a Dogwood but I am not sure, the shape doesn't seem right, maybe it is a fruit tree?
Josephine.
My first thought was a peach, but the leaves look too wide. I hope it's not a fruitless mulberry, which it also resembles a little.
Maybe rough-leafed dogwood?
I had thought Roughleaf Dogwood too, but it seemed too lush and the form seemed wrong, but the leaf sure is similar, here is a picture of one;
http://wildflower.org/gallery/result.php?id_image=13723
Josephine.
Does it ever bloom or flower? If so, at what time of the year?
It sure looks like that picture of rough-leafed dogwood.
It is three years old and growing in a raised bed with all the lucious compost and fertilizer that everything there gets. That might explain it's lushness. It's about six feet tall and hasn't bloomed yet.
Are mulberries bad? I make paper and mulberry bast is one of the best to make paper with.
I have no use for fruitless mulberry. A fast growing weed tree. Fruiting mulberries are another story. Still fast growing, fairly short-lived, but great for migrating birds in the spring. For me too. I love to eat mulberries.
Fruitless mulberries have destructive roots, plus I just don't think they're an attractive tree. I'm glad it looks like a dogwood.
Maybe I"m lucky it appears to be a dogwood.
You're getting dogwoods the easy way. I dug a little plant up once and later collected seeds and grew one from seed. Mine are planted in a shady area and doing fairly well considering it's not growing in the pricey topsoil I pay for and bring in on the bed of a truck because the Hill Country doesn't have topsoil to speak of. This is Roughleaf Dogwood blooming.
So, Linda, do they grow wild?
I hear you about the pricey top soil. Here there is so much clay we had to build raised beds and fill them with 12 yards of delivered top soil. I shouldn't say we. I just observed and my friend hauled the dirt wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow.
They do grow wild...although there are fewer in the Hill Country area I'm familiar with now because of rampant development in their natural habitats. I've seen many fall victim to the bulldozers. If only they were planted at the same rate they're destroyed...
Yes, they do grow wild here in DFW area too, but they are not as lush, I have two of them, they are very pretty.
I'm glad to have them, then. It makes me feel like I have a little nature happening in a very (too) controlled environment.
You're so lucky to have had a friend who did the topsoil for you! My back hurts just thinking about all the topsoil I've hauled and spread. But worth it, even so.
Yes, I consider myself very lucky.
I know what you mean about the back though.