hello all we moved into a new house and someone had planted these bushes. At first I thought they where going to be roses but now I have no idea. They are extremely thorny and green as the grass. The branches tend to sprawl out alot and do not appear to have any buds yet. Sorry the pics are hard to see because of the color they blend with the yard. Any help will be wonderful, then I will decided weather on not to keep them! thanks!
Looks like a Barberry to me. They turn a reddish brown in the fall and are quite pretty if you can stay away from those nasty thorns.
Those are good ornamental bushes. They are generally healthy-looking, but a pain to trim. They look best untrimmed, though. As hedging plants they're actually irreplaceable because they effectively deter all unwanted traffic. If you decide to take them out, try to tie all the branches together before you start digging. The roots go very deep and wide once the plant is well established. We used a Chevrolet Suburban to pull the ones we "inherited" out, and it had a hard time doing it too. Those had been growing for about 20 years, though.
