Monday 27 August 2012

Oh Deer

It's a stag's horn.


This is Rhus typhina, commonly known as the Stag's Horn Sumach. Our neighbour gave us a young plant many, many years ago, and told us it was called a Tree of Heaven. And that is the name we knew it by, until a few years ago when I did a bit of digging. Er, not that sort of digging, I meant research. Anyway, I discovered that the Tree of Heaven is actually a very similar shrub called Ailanthus. And the shrub we had was a Rhus.

The original plant was grown in the back garden, but eventually had to be removed to make way for a patio. Fortunately, it had produced a couple of suckers which we planted in the front garden. They both grew quite well, but one of them started leaning quite badly, caused by the prevailing wind, and had to be removed. And this one remains.

As you can see, at this time of year it produces red seed cones. In a few weeks time, the leaves will turn bright scarlet before leaf fall. If you decide to grow this plant, you need to be aware of a couple of pitfalls. Firstly, when pruned it produces a sap that can cause skin irritation. Secondly, if the ground is disturbed around its roots, it will grow lots of suckers. I always wear gloves when pruning it, and the suckers are easily pulled up when quite young.

There were quite a few butterflies in the garden yesterday, so I decided to take some photos:

Missed!  Got a nice photo of a bee on the Buddleia though. Thought I'd take a photo of something a little more slow moving:

Have you noticed how the snails like to climb at this time of year ?  This one went for a swim just after this photo was taken. Well it was more of a plunge really. Now back to the butterflies:

Gotcha!  Not the best of photos. Better luck next time. I've just read an article stating that butterflies prefer pink or white Buddleias, rather than the purple varieties. Well it's a bit late now; my buddleias are all purple.

And finally, a bit of weather news. As August is coming to an end, it's time to look out for the September anti-cyclone. This is a large area of high pressure that appears every year during the first two weeks of September. If it comes across the UK, we get two weeks of fine weather, but if it comes above or below the UK, we get two weeks of gale force winds. With the weather we've been having this year, anything could happen.

16 comments:

  1. Thank you Mrs Fish for Septembers weather report. I love those Rhus plants, wish I had the space as their autumn look is stunning. I trust you'll post the autumn look for me xx

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    1. Ha ha, Mrs Fish indeed.
      I'll look out for the Rhus autumn look.
      My blueberries are already displaying it, much too early. Think it was that very cold night at the end of August.

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  2. So interesting what a little research will turn up. It's very pretty and delicate.

    We must have encountered the anti-cyclone effect during a September visit to the UK years ago. Lovely sunny days and comfortable evenings were a pleasant surprise compared to our expectations of chilly rain.

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    1. Good job you didn't visit this summer, you'd have got bucket loads of chilly rain.

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  3. I wish you a dry and sunny September.

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    1. Dry and sunny so far, but it's only two days in.

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  4. Love your Rhus typhina, I have never heard of it before. As for the September weather, I am hoping for an Indian summer – the gale force winds can go somewhere else!

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    1. According to the latest weather forecast, the winds are heading for Scotland.

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  5. Nie mam w ogródku, ale znam tą pierwszą roślinę. Miałam białą budleję, która zmarzła zimą i było na nie sporo motyli. Teraz mam fioletową i jest ich mniej :(. Pozdrawiam.
    I do not have in your backyard, but I know that the first plant. I had a white Budle, which froze in the winter and it was not a lot of butterflies. Now I have a purple and there are fewer: (. Yours.

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    1. I've had a few butterflies on the Buddleia today.

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  6. Tree of Heaven is a noxious weed here. My neighbor has several growing out of the grass near their foundation. Hopefully, you'll have a wonderful Sept. weather-wise. I'm hoping for a very snowy winter.

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    1. It can be a bit of a problem with all the suckers, but I think our UK climate slows it down a bit.

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  7. Hi Crystal,

    Lovely photos - good luck with the Butterfly photos! I find they seem to have slowed down a little now...

    As for the weather... Well, not sure where this heatwave from the Azures has gone. Ok so it was sunny today but we were promised high temps, not 20C! Let's hope we do get those two weeks though :)

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    1. Had lots of butterflies in the garden today, but they just wouldn't keep still for a photo.
      Weather forecast for the next week looking okay.

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  8. Is the Stag's Horn Sumach the same as / related to the tree which produces the Middle Eastern spice called Sumac - or is this something completely different? Any idea?

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    1. Hi Mark,
      Apparently, the Middle Eastern spice Sumac is made from a variety of Rhus, but not from Rhus typhina.
      So if you've got a Stag's Horn Sumach in your garden, do not try to make any spice from it.

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