Ok, two items i'd like to know about, one is a small tree/bush at the back of my property that grows near a small brook, theres a few of these and I believe they have small berries in the fall...









this second plant appeared amongst a patch of black eyed susans, not sure if its anything I should try keeping or just rip out ...







Thank you all for your time & thoughts!

Maybe

Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana)
in the shade of a few flowers, and has little of the fruit

@bamira
The second plant is chokecherry?

the first, the second maybe is a species of willow - salix

The last (4th) pic down of that plant really doesn't look like cherry, or any prunus to me.
Are you sure? Can you tell me why you think it's choke cherry? I'm not arguing (yet ) , I'm just trying to learn.

And Swayback, in your own style, I'm going to ask you why you think the first pics are not Prunus, and likewise not offer any back up reasoning.

Frankly, by the branch structure of the first group of pics, it doesn't seem like a Prunus of any sort to me, either. If the berries are really in the fall, I don't think there are any wild Prunus spp. that hold their fruit until then. A mention of berry color might be helpful, Jason. If it has fruit, then it must also have flowers that would be more telling....

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -
I do think a willow is a good contender for the second group of photos, but not definite.

Leftwood said:And Swayback, in your own style, I'm going to ask you why you think the first pics are not Prunus, and likewise not offer any back up reasoning.

Touché!

I have a lovely case if the summer flu... I petered out before I could elaborate...
There's a couple of things that tip me off.
1) the pic I mentioned is the only close up on the leaf I can see. I see a very smooth edge, no signs of serration or jagged edges
2) I see prominent veins on the underside of the leaf, far thicker than I'm used to seeing on prunus
3) the leaves are very sparse all along the stem, but thick at the terminal tip of each branch
4) the branches appear twisted and gnarly, much like a plant that's struggled for light for many years, but the plant is clearly in the open and shouldn't need to fight for light.
5) the leaf color is bright green, with no sign of color variation, no red edge etc...

Since I quoted you I can't actually see the pics anymore... So that's all I can remember

Leftwood said:Frankly, by the branch structure of the first group of pics, it doesn't seem like a Prunus of any sort to me, either. If the berries are really in the fall, I don't think there are any wild Prunus spp. that hold their fruit until then. A mention of berry color might be helpful, Jason. If it has fruit, then it must also have flowers that would be more telling....

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -
I do think a willow is a good contender for the second group of photos, but not definite.

thanks for the help, I thought I took a pic of the fruit last time I saw it but i can't find the photo, so i'll have to keep an eye on it and keep a more organized folder for the plants in question, I have a new property and it would just be nice to know what I have growing around there, my goal is to provide for butterflies, so some plants/trees/bushes that don't support them I would like to remove and replace with things that will help them. Of course if something produces fruit that birds love i'd like to keep that as well. Thanks again for all the help everyone.

Swayback said:

Touché!

I have a lovely case if the summer flu... I petered out before I could elaborate...
There's a couple of things that tip me off.
1) the pic I mentioned is the only close up on the leaf I can see. I see a very smooth edge, no signs of serration or jagged edges
2) I see prominent veins on the underside of the leaf, far thicker than I'm used to seeing on prunus
3) the leaves are very sparse all along the stem, but thick at the terminal tip of each branch
4) the branches appear twisted and gnarly, much like a plant that's struggled for light for many years, but the plant is clearly in the open and shouldn't need to fight for light.
5) the leaf color is bright green, with no sign of color variation, no red edge etc...

Since I quoted you I can't actually see the pics anymore... So that's all I can remember

Oh and yes these probably have struggled for light over many years, the property was abandoned and the area was very overgrown and I cut down a bunch of trees to increase useful yard space for growing sun loving plants, these were not in the open as much as they are now thats for sure!

I'll also take better pictures with my good camera and not use my cell phone like i did here!

Crush a leaf, see if it doesn't smell like lemon

Swayback said:Crush a leaf, see if it doesn't smell like lemon

would that be for the second one in question?

a few more pictures for reference...

jaym1818 said:

would that be for the second one in question?

No the first one... I have no clue on number 2 Salix sounds good fit it

I apologize, i just noticed its suppost to be one plant per post, sorry I did two on this one