Cotoneaster?

One of the superb species contoneaster. It looks fantastic.

Yes..I love these...Yours is amazing.

what a superb specimen.

As likely to be Cornubia as any.

Amazing

Wow! You'd think all those berries would presage a bad, bad winter, wouldn't you? When do you think it's going to arrive?

sssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHH gattina be posotive x x .

OMG, Sorry! It was an attempt at humour. Failed as usual!

Never seen such a brilliant Cotoneaster before - wow!

If you ever have the misfortune to drive from Wrexham to Mold, there is a whole hedge of these, looking as good as this just outside Gwersyllt.
Ours looked as good as this until the Fieldfares arrived and stripped it bare in less than half a day.
Strangely enough the type of Winter weather does not seem to matter, they fruit like this every year.

Cotoneaster frigidus 'Cornubia' - which looks like its been pruned back and reshaped at some point - otherwise they tend to get very tall and grow quite vertically. Lovely specimen, this one. Responds quite well to hard pruning - there's one round the corner here which they pruned back and keep as a standard with all the growth in a sort of dense circular, bushy shape at about 7 feet, though it never has as many berries as this.

Totally amazing specimen, and proof of the mild winter that the black birds and pigeons haven't stripped it bare yet, preferring still the higher feed content of worms and seeds!! This year altogether has been amazing for flowers and berries.

We went for a nice brisk walk this afternoon, and met one of neighbours: we were discussing the mild weather, and she said "Ah, but wait 'til April - it's going to be bad!" I've no doubt she'll be right, but how does she KNOW?

She doesn't ... she's just hedging her bets, so to speak. Weather is always bad at some point, then she can say 'I told you so!' If she gets it wrong then there will be a 'nepota' who will have got it right! The italians (if you are speaking from Italy) are wonderful at this - eternal pessimists ... something to talk about. They love the melodrama of doom and gloom, then the melodrama of wonder when all is okay - it's an emotional yoyo all year round. When it's dry and warm they talk about freezing to death; when its cold they talk about summer drought ... they are italian!! No logic, just emotion. Wonderful but exhausting!!

Avkq, you, too, must have lived in Italy at some time in your life......

My daughter-in-law is Italian (I love them!) but lives in Australia. She has MANY relatives in L'Aquila who ALL want to feed her when she visits, but then spend three-quarters of the time asking why she doesn't visit more often!!

Oh Dear, Sheila! Daughter used to have a Sardinian boyfriend, and he took her home to meet his family for a week. He had explained to his mother that D had coeliac disease, and couldn't eat anything made with flour, and Mamma must have cooked for a month beforehand. She kept saying "But I have made ALL this SPECIALLY for you!, you MUST eat it " Daughter did her best, not wanting to offend, and she made herself really quite seriously ill with overeating. When Mamma and the rest of the family travelled to Bologna to stay with D and boyfriend in turn, they brought a suitcase containing half a sheep, and dozens of home-made cheeses and special Sardinian bread. Luckily D was forewarned and made her (very reluctant, of course) excuses, and came to stay with us instead.

Thanks for your responses, the photo was taken in chichester, west sussex. Beware, now i know this web site i will be asking for more help in the future.

Oh dear Gattina! Your poor daughter . . .

No worries Ruth . . . everyone loves to help!

My father is italian, Gattina, and I have visited relations there over the years. Sadly, they are all getting older and passing on, and keeping in touch with second cousins and the next generation etc is impracticable from here. Happy New Year!

Buon Anno anche a te, Avkq47. Whereabouts in Italy does your father's family come from?
They say that if you ask a Brit "where are you from?" he will say "Scotland", or "England", or "Wales" or "Ireland", but if you ask an Italian the same question, he will reply "Modena" or "Rapallo", or "Montespertoli".......

Ruth, I'm sorry - you will have discovered by now that perfectly reasonable and serious gardening questions start a train of comments that tend to go off at a tangent, and we all end up (well, some of us, anyway) discussing a whole lot of completely unrelated stuff. You'll get used to it, and sometimes it's very entertaining. :-))))

thats what sets this site apart i think gattina orwe could all just google questions . happy new year everyone bring on the spring xx .

My father's family originated in Rovetta, Bergamo. It is only recently (200 years or so!) that Garibaldi unified italy, which previously was an area of principalities with local kings, queens, princes etc. so the italians are still very much attached to their own regions. People die every year from inter-region competitions, and farmers from one side of a valley to the other are still bitter enemies. Perhaps one more generation will ease it, but I doubt it?!

It was only 151 years ago, Avkq!
Our neighbours seem very happy to accept us English as honorary locals, but refer to one poor soul from another valley who married, 40 years ago, into a local family as "Lo Straniero". (the foreigner) Our friend Teresa who has lived here for nearly 35 years is still ostracised and referred to as "La Calabrese". Campanalismo is alive and kicking in every small town and village in Italy, and we had heard of it, but had not expected it to be quite so bitter! I do think it is more common among the farming communities.

The wars and deaths over even the slightest of slights to one's wife, daughter, a farmer dispute etc etc are amazing, especially as the revenge can last so long ... "La Calabrese" = cheap foreign totty. I am so very sorry for your friend, but the older ones are dying off now, and I do hope the younger ones are better mannered!! After so many years, teresa sounds like she can beat them at their own game. If not, advise her to cook the ultimate pasta dish for your region, perfect in every way - they will learn to love her just for the recipe!!

Teresa is actually from Calabria, Avkq, so the epithet is accurate: it's just the venom with which it's said that astounds us. I don't think anyone would thank her for a particular pasta recipe - each casalinga has her own jealously guarded recipe, and no-one else's is worth bothering with. What we have noticed is a general, vitriolic hatred for southerners in general in this part of northern Italy. They are held up as everything that is bad in every respect, and deeply despised, whatever their personal qualities. I suspect that, apart from her own family, we are the only ones around who ever speak to her.

Indeed Gattina - the north has often over the years, and even now, I believe, forwarded the suggestion of schism from the south. One of my aunts used to call anyone south of Umbria, derogatively, as either africans or arabs, ... Like they were animals or something and not Italian! Garibaldi would turn in his grave ... But the immigrant population in the south is not helping to fester goodwill in the north, and they will be hateful for many more years to come. It's all about politics, money and territory, as all disagreements between countries are, and for which the innocents die!