Does it have teeny little white flowers? Very fragrant? It is hard to tell from the photo - but looks like our tea olive (osmanthus fragrans).

If no one has a definite answer for you, you can always clip a branch and take to your local nursery. Do you have Pike's up there? I love Pike's!

Good luck!

It is Japanese waxleaf ligustrum. You can actually cut it to the ground and it will come back. A close cousin of the very invasive chinese ligustrum (privet). People down the street have this and I see babies pop up in the edges of wooded areas in other people's yards.

Unless you want to prune it on a regular basis, get rid of it and plant something with a smaller mature size.

As far as your pool, any shrub/tree is going to shed some leaves, either all at once (deciduous) or a little at a time (evergreen). You could use a very tall perennial such as Canna lilies - they don't shed.

Three reliably hardy palms for Cumming, GA, are the Chinese Windmill Palm (_Trachycarpus fortunei_), the needle palm (_Rhapidophyllum hystrix), and the dwarf palmetto (_Sabal minor_). The Chinese Windmill Palm is arborescent; whereas, the needle palm and the dwarf palmetto are clump-forming and relatively low-growing. The dwarf palmetto develops a subterranean trunk. You might also consider trying _Sabal louisiana_, which is considered a cross between _Sabal palmetto_, the state tree of SC and FLA, and _Sabal minor_. Over time, _Sabal louisiana_ develops a short trunk and is, therefore, considered an arborescent palm. The hybrid _Sabal sp. 'Birmingham'_ is another highly cold-tolerant, trunk-forming palm that looks almost identical to _Sabal palmetto_. A number of mail order nurseries supply these palms in small sizes. Fairly large specimens are available at a palm nursery just south of Charlotte, but over the SC State Line, called The Chilly Palm Nursery. This nursery has a Website. If you Google the phrase "chilly palm," their Website comes up. You may also want to look into the Nearly Native Nursery in Fayetteville, GA, which, I think is in the South Metro Atlanta area. They stock a lot of hardy palms. Their Website is www.nearlynativenursery.com.

I live in Zone 7b in SC and grow all of the palms I've mentioned in this posting. My palms are young and small, but thriving. One thing that's important to remember about palms is that the palm literature advises that they be planted when in active growth. In colder areas, mulching them is advisable until they are established in your landscape.

The two best sources of hardy palms in the Atlanta area are Nearly Native in Fayetteville (as mentioned by jay AND a great place for natives too) and Randy's Perennials in Lawrenceville.

When choosing palms, keep in mind the low temperatures that we just had (down to 10 degrees and less) and choose accordingly. Despite the fact that places sell them, Sago palm is NOT hardy (just a note of caution that nurseries don't always do the right thing or advise you). I don't think it is true of the two nurseries named above, but it happens at some of the "big box" stores for sure.

In the past few years, a couple of cold-tolerant sagos have been introduced into Western horticulture from China. I ordered one of them from a mail-order nursery, possibly Yucca Do in Texas, and have been growing it in a pot for a couple of years. The lowest temperature so far this winter, here along Bishop Branch, has been twelve or thirteen degrees Fahrenheit; and the fronds of this sago have blanched from the cold. However, I expect it to recover, with a new flush of growth, when the weather warms in the spring. It did the same thing last winter--blanched and flushed. I plan to plant it in the garden sometime this summer, after it flushes with new growth. When in the ground, it should prove equally, or possibly more, hardy. Like esh ga7, I wouldn't recommend this plant for a poolside planting. But if you're dying to have a marginally hardy sago, you might want to give it a try. Its Latin name is _Cycas panzihuaensis_, and the common names are Dukou Cycad or Hardy Cycad. There are some Zone 7B (Alabama) plant collectors who have grown this sago outdoors for several years and are pleased with its performance. You could hide its blanched foliage in a grouping of clump-forming palms, or leave it exposed and admire its pale skeletal fronds until the new flush of foliage breaks out. As I said, I'm not sure that my plant came from Yucca Do Nursery. You can check their Website to find that out. If they don't have the plant, I can recommend a reliable mail-order source in NC.

if you have dogs or other pets careful with the palms. They can be quite poisonous, particularly the Sago. I've seen this happen and it is not good at all. I have no clue why domestic animals will eat palms and not other plants.

Thanks jay, I didn't realize that there is a hardy Sago. People certainly need to check labels carefully to make sure they are getting the one they expect.

thanks everyone. had no idea about the palms being poisonous. and i do have a golden retriever who i believe eats 10lbs. of trees a day.

sorry to bring back this old thread but my wife wants to move this plant to a fairly open part of our yard - instead of just getting rid of it. is it too big to be moved? it's about 8 ft. tall.

Should be fine, but be aware that you're probably going to be fighting shoots of the original plant in that location for eons to come, because ligustrum, like holly, is a pain in the keester to totally get rid of. Best time to transplant is in the early to mid winter, when most plants are entering dormancy, so the plant will have time to focus on building new roots instead of trying to grow new shoots and leaves. Worst time to transplant is now and into the heat of summer, because the plant spends too much time producing new growth rather than roots, and you're hacking the roots that are being used to get nutrients for that growth.

I would never say that a plant is too big to move. I was always told that the general rule of thumb is to dig the hole with a diameter at least half as wide as the tree is large. So, in dealing with an 8' tree or shrub, you would dig (at minimum) a 4' wide hole. So, measure 2' out from the base all the way around, and start from the outside. You should cleanly sever all roots with a shovel or cutting tool. If you hear ripping sounds when excavating, this is roots tearing, which is bad.

Word of advice: Dig the new hole before you pull the tree.