In article ,
Rodger Whitlock wrote:
On Fri, 14 Mar 2003 19:04:41 +0000, Lazarus Cooke wrote:

Does the cutting back=killing apply to Rosemary & thyme too?

The one plant that really gets subjected to this kind of "don't
cut back" propaganda is lavender. All the authorities say not to
cut lavender back into old wood. However, I've seen very old
lavender bushes hacked back ruthlessly to mere stubs in late
winter and come back very nicely. At the very least, this warning
is not always true.

I may have been confusing. What I was saying is that, if you have an
OLD plant and you cut it back to its OLDEST wood, it will probably
give up the ghost or at least fail to regrow properly. But, as I
said, at worst you won't lose much - because, if it dies, it was
about to drop dead anyway - and because you can regrow a new plant
very quickly.

But I certainly am not disagreeing with the "cut them back hard"
approach, which is the best way to treat them. Provided that they
are not ancient, all of those plants can take cutting back very hard.

In the position of someone with a really only and straggly sage,
rosemary, thyme or winter savory plant, I would cut it back HARD,
too. But I would also propagate it, because that is a kill or cure
solution.

Most of these subshrubby labiates need the odd hacking back if
they are to look at all tidy, rather like a lot of penstemon
species.

Yes, indeed. My only reservation is my experience is that very
old and neglected plants are beyond hope, and are best propagated
and replaced.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren,
University of Cambridge Computing Service,
New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QH, England.
Email:
Tel.: +44 1223 334761 Fax: +44 1223 334679