What plant is this?
June 10, 2009 12:13 AM Subscribe
What plant is this?
Friends of mine (number of green fingers: none) got a few plants last year. No description was included, but they duly planted them anyway. Now this is growing in their garden.
Now they'd like to know what it is, and whether they'd not better move it away a bit from the tree already there...
Locale: the Netherlands.
Friends of mine (number of green fingers: none) got a few plants last year. No description was included, but they duly planted them anyway. Now this is growing in their garden.
Now they'd like to know what it is, and whether they'd not better move it away a bit from the tree already there...
Locale: the Netherlands.
My first thought was grapevine too.
posted by Miss Otis' Egrets at 12:42 AM on June 10, 2009
posted by Miss Otis' Egrets at 12:42 AM on June 10, 2009
from the way its growing it's certainly a vine, ( its not branching, growing straight up with leaves coming straight off the cane) It does look like grape vine, but who knows how many plants there out in the word that i have never seen.
It does look like its planted too close to the tree.
posted by compound eye at 1:07 AM on June 10, 2009
It does look like its planted too close to the tree.
posted by compound eye at 1:07 AM on June 10, 2009
It looks like some kind of maple to me. I could well be wrong, though. Actually, it puts me in mind of a Vibirnum, but I don't know which one. Does it ever bear flowers or fruit?
posted by Solomon at 1:26 AM on June 10, 2009
posted by Solomon at 1:26 AM on June 10, 2009
It looks a lot like the grape vines that are growing all over my backyard - there seem to be little tendrils growing at the base of the leaves, and in the first picture the leaves are slightly red-tipped, which is just how grape leaves look when they first grow in. Grape vines are really awesome - I built a trellis for mine and within 3 years they've grown right across the backyard to create a beautiful enclosure. And you get grapes in the fall!
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 2:38 AM on June 10, 2009
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 2:38 AM on June 10, 2009
Response by poster: @Solomon: no flowers or fruit - yet. But it has only been growing there since last year, so who knows?
@all: a grape vine it is then. Thanx all!
posted by Sourisnoire at 3:59 AM on June 10, 2009
@all: a grape vine it is then. Thanx all!
posted by Sourisnoire at 3:59 AM on June 10, 2009
If it is a grape vine and you do get fruit from it, cut them off before they start to grow. For the first year of a grape vine you want it to focus on growth and root development not fruit. If it is a maple tree or any other tree, get rid of it. That is WAY too close to a house to let a tree grow. It will crack a foundation if you let the roots start to take off.
posted by Mastercheddaar at 7:34 AM on June 10, 2009
posted by Mastercheddaar at 7:34 AM on June 10, 2009
My money's on maple or similar. Opposite leaf arrangement (vs. alternate for grapes), straight, smooth, red bark, no tendrils. The indentations on a grape leaf are U rather than V shaped. A grape vine would not grow straight up like this without clinging.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 7:50 AM on June 10, 2009
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 7:50 AM on June 10, 2009
It looks to me like a sucker from your ornamental tree. The top of the trunk shows a bulge that looks like a graft. Lots of ornamentals are grafted onto more hardy roots (like roses onto wild rose stock or "weeping" plants like mulberries, beech and pussy willows onto the regular version of those plants). The roots often send up suckers to circumvent the grafted branches. You probably want to cut it off at ground level.
posted by bonobothegreat at 8:05 AM on June 10, 2009
posted by bonobothegreat at 8:05 AM on June 10, 2009
Best answer: I'm thinking the bark is wrong for a grape vine, and it's awfully straight.
Maple sapling.
posted by OrangeDrink at 8:53 AM on June 10, 2009
Maple sapling.
posted by OrangeDrink at 8:53 AM on June 10, 2009
It's not a grape; grape leaves are alternate, not opposite, and the nodes are swollen. There would also be tendrils. Your plant is a small sapling or sucker. It should be moved or cut down.
posted by oneirodynia at 9:27 PM on June 10, 2009
posted by oneirodynia at 9:27 PM on June 10, 2009
from the way its growing it's certainly a vine, ( its not branching, growing straight up with leaves coming straight off the cane)
This is pretty much exactly what vines don't do; very few are self supporting, and the woody vines that are rarely grow straight. Vines by nature will twine or cling or scramble, without support they tend to be a shaggy lump or groundcover. That's the reason you always see baby vines in nurseries with a stake for support; they would otherwise trail over the sides of the pot and get entangled in everything around them.
posted by oneirodynia at 9:32 PM on June 10, 2009
This is pretty much exactly what vines don't do; very few are self supporting, and the woody vines that are rarely grow straight. Vines by nature will twine or cling or scramble, without support they tend to be a shaggy lump or groundcover. That's the reason you always see baby vines in nurseries with a stake for support; they would otherwise trail over the sides of the pot and get entangled in everything around them.
posted by oneirodynia at 9:32 PM on June 10, 2009
Best answer: that looks like a young maple tree. they grow straight UP. it's not a grape if it doesn't have any of those curly tendril-y thingies that wrap around whatever it's climbing and using for support.
posted by fancyoats at 10:23 PM on June 10, 2009
posted by fancyoats at 10:23 PM on June 10, 2009
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posted by Electric Dragon at 12:23 AM on June 10, 2009