Shrub In January

Looks like a Viburnum...either Viburnum x bodnantense Dawn
.......................................or Viburnum x bodnantense Charles Lamont.
Superbly pruned to keep them compact and still have a mass of flower.
Wonderful!

Viburnum x Bodnantense Dawn - Google Search

Viburnum x bodnantense Charles Lamont. - Google Search

 

wiseowl where did you see this stunning row of Viburnum?
They are stunning.

 

Thanks wiseowl...I bet it lifts the spirits of all passers by.

 

Hello @wiseowl we have Dawn in our back garden which is in flower at the moment and the scent it gives out at this time of the year is fantastic.Ours is around 8ft tall so makes a good screen shrub against a fence.

A few years ago we had a visit from a pair of Bullfinches which were attracted to the shrub and they enjoyed taking off the buds which annoyed me a little bit but it was so nice to have these stunning birds in the garden.

They haven't been back since so not sure if they succumbed to the hard winter we had the other year

 

Hi @wiseowl This is a photo I took of Dawn yesterday.it looked a picture a few weeks ago but sadly the rain and then frosts are starting to destroy the flowers so they are now past their best.One of these would be a good for your large garden

 

Funny you should say this @Kandy. Yesterday was gorgeous here and I was wandering round watching the birds at the birdtable. I them spotted 6 Bullfinches in amongst the shrubs which include a large number of flowering Viburnum. It never dawned on me that it was the flowers on the shrubs which was attracting them.Thanks for the information. I would like to say mine look as good as those in @wiseowl 's lovely photo but they do not. Somewhat neglected and I haven't pruned them in all the years we've been here (15!). Think I had better add that job to my never ending list of things to do.

 

Hi @silu It was a nice surprise to see the Bullfinches in the garden especially in this tree but on getting the binoculars out saw that the Bullfinches were actually stripping the closed flower birds so I assume they get nectar for food out of them.I think these birds are also partial to apple tree flower buds as well

I gave ours a bit of a prune in the summer but looking at the photo it needs a bit more pruning so will do that at a later date.If I let Mr Kandy near it he will chop it down to ground level

Talking about birds,I have a fence at the bottom of my garden with Pyracanthas growing all over it.The other year with my constant watering the roots of each plant with washing up and water butt water I had a fantastic display of flowers and orange berries and it was a picture.Last year in the winter months I saw no end of Sparrows amongst the branches and assumed they were eating insects.At the right time of the year I had hardly any flowers on the plants and no berries in the Autumn/Winter and couldn't understand what had happened until a few weeks ago when I saw the Sparrows amongst the branches again.I reckon they had bitten off all the flower buds (despite me feeding them with so much seed all year round) so that was the reason I got no flowers or berries. the little so and so's also peck at the flowers on my Primroses and Polyanthus plants so the flowers all look shredded

I can't think of a way to stop them apart from putting insect netting against the fence but then that will stop the bees getting to the flowers which they enjoy as a food source.I need one of those sonic scareres like you get for keeping cats off of your borders

 

I can imagine that did put a bit of a damper on things!