Thanks

Don
"loosecanon" wrote in message
...

"Don" wrote in message
...
Folks, live in the Adelaide hills with a nice garden that includes one
1.5
metre protea (silver ice, I think) that is flowering very well on every
stem. The bush is almost too big for the roots and stem. Although
staked
up I think I need to prune after the flowers loose there colour.
However,
the flowers are at the junction of 5 or 6 other stems that also have
flowers
or flower like things starting. There doesn't seem to be any stem at the
junction to cut the flower off from. Most articles I have seem talk
about
leaving 10 to 15cm of stem. I also have one or two flowers that have
opened
up all the way and are starting to look like they are dying so wish to
prune
them out. Help ( no skills what soever as a gardener except that
everything
I plant seems to go berserk and grow!! go figure)

regards, in anticipation

--
Don From Down Under



I guess that you do what you do with roses when they have 4 or 5 flowers
and
that is to take the spent ones off and leave the flowers and buds.

Does your protea have a thick base at ground level? It could have a
lignotuber which would allow you to cut it down to ground level. Which
would
result in new growth springing up. But if it is thin at the base I'd just
prune down the stem under the flowers. There could be dormant buds which
would appear as small swellings or nodes. The idea is to cut above one of
these.

Oh and if anything results in it's loss. Just keep in mind there is always
another plant.

Cheers

Richard