Stephen Howard wrote in
:

On 30 Jun 2004 11:28:40 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:

I would be inclined to trim them now, and cut back to 1' next
spring after the risk of serious frost is over.


That's a good point - my garden is fairly well protected from frost,
only certain parts get the full whack - so there's a chance that the
Bud's have never been hit by a real freeze.

In which case, yes, trimming back now, followed by a hard cut in
spring would be sensible.

I've never lived anywhere where just hacking the things back when it seems
like a good day for it did anything other than slow them down very slightly
;-)

I'm pretty sure that advice is good for lowland Devon, Cornwall, Oxford and
Chester: in colder places, your mileage may vary!

Victoria
--
gardening on a north-facing hill
in South-East Cornwall
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