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Help identifying this blob

Matty_PMatty_P Posts: 64
in Plants
Hi all, I wonder if anyone can help me identify this bush. It's starting to absorb a rose bush so wanting to tame it and maybe give it a haircut as it's very mushroomy-unless this is the shape they're meant to be.. I'm new to gardening and wonder what it should be cut back with, a hedge trimmer perhaps although I don't currently own one so wonder if there is a manual tool option.

Thanks for the help
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Posts

  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    To be honest l can't really make it out very clearly, it's possibly a Hebe but l'm not sure.
    Could you take a close up photo of the leaves please ?
    If you have a good pair of secateurs they might be suitable, or possibly grass shears. A lot depends on what it is.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    Comparing the leaf size to the one next to it which looks like Lonicera nitida, I'd say it has very small narrow leaves so maybe one of the gold-leaved forms of heather? Or possibly a very tightly-knit dwarf conifer, but I think heather is more likely.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • Matty_PMatty_P Posts: 64
    Hi thanks, here is a close up of the leaves 
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    Could be some type of Abies?
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • Paul B3Paul B3 Posts: 3,154
    Not quite sure on this one , but to me looks like a very old & frequently pruned Juniperus procumbens Nana .
  • Matty_PMatty_P Posts: 64
    Paul B3 said:
    Not quite sure on this one , but to me looks like a very old & frequently pruned Juniperus procumbens Nana .
    Yes I see what you mean similar leaves. Although it seems to grow low and more as a mat compared to this one. I guess I will just chop it back to free the rose at least. I think when I parted the external leaves internally the leaves there are quite brown so may end up exposing that.
  • Matty_PMatty_P Posts: 64
    I don't condone stalking on Google streetview unless it's plants. Here's two more shots one from 2008 and then 2012. If it's the same plant looks quite different in 08 then takes on its familiar form from 2012 onwards just bigger.
  • Paul B3Paul B3 Posts: 3,154
    A procumbent manner of growth will over many years assume a semi-globular appearance if pruned very regularly .
    If you cut the outer leaves and expose the inner brown (dead foliage) , it will never
    'green-up' again .
    The disturbed or damaged foliage may exhibit a resinous scent IF it is Juniper .
  • Matty_PMatty_P Posts: 64
    Hmm tricky customer then this one. From what I've just read you shouldn't need to touch them and should only prune very lightly.  I'd like to get it back to its true form or is it destined to stay like this and envelop the roses even more?
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    edited July 2023
    If you don't really like it, there's no rule that says you have to keep it. You could dig it out and plant something that will co-exist better with the rose.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
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