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Having spent most of my life living in big cities, I had a hard time recognizing the plants around my house in west Massachusetts. I spent a stupid amount of time trying to decipher them using Bing image search (which is surprising better than Google's) and various apps, I still have quite a few that I can't identify and would like to ask the experts here for help.

Plant (large)

[Update] Here are two pictures from this month.

Flower 1 (large)

Flower 2 (large)

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    One identification per question, please! (Hint: I see the potential for a lot of upvotes for lots of questions...) The tag help for the identification tag has a bunch of good advice what should be in a good identification question. Please don’t just throw one photo towards the community, instead give us both close-ups (backsides of leaves and branches/bark is also a good idea) and an overall photo. Add as many details as you can.
    – Stephie
    Nov 6, 2020 at 20:30
  • I apologize for the poor etiquette and thanks for your good advice. Unfortunately a lot of these photos were taken in the beginning of summer and I am just now going over them with less actual yard work to do. The plants look quite bare right now, so I'll likely have to repost these questions next year.
    – Roc W.
    Nov 6, 2020 at 20:58
  • them don’t forget to snap pictures of the bare shrubs, the inner structure can be helpful for an id and usually is obscured by the foliage.
    – Stephie
    Nov 7, 2020 at 11:49
  • @RocWhite - if you see any flowers or berries at any time, either a photo or a description of them will be helpful for ID purposes too, as wiil being able to see the plant's growth habit or overall shape from a short distance as well as a close up of foliage etc
    – Bamboo
    Nov 7, 2020 at 13:43
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    If you haven't already, give iNaturalist a try. The app gives some reasonable automated IDs, although it works best if you look at the whole list of suggestions rather than just picking the one at the top. But also, if you go on their website (works best on a computer or tablet so you have a larger screen than the phone) you can look at recent plant observations in your area, which may help you find your plant even if the AI doesn't get it right.
    – csk
    May 30, 2021 at 1:28

1 Answer 1

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This is a lilac, a member of the genus Syringa. Based on leaf shape and flower color, it could be Persian lilac (Syriga x persica) or common lilac (Syringa vulgaris), or another variety.

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  • Thanks. I'll watch how the flowers continue to develop and update.
    – Roc W.
    May 30, 2021 at 13:23

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