On 4/11/07 19:31, in article
, "Dave Hill"
wrote:


A couple of times I have had to prune back old Skimmia japonica which
were around 6ft tall and planted infront of windows, I would estimate
that they were in the region of 20 years old, They had the house
behind them and an 8ft hedge to one side.
I also remember being asked about cutting back a minature conifer that
had got up to the level of the windowsill, the couple were both in
their 80's and had planted it when they first married, over 50 years
before. I said not to worry about it.
I'm sure we all know of shrubs that havn't read the books. A
Philidelphus growing out of the top of a 30ft Oak tree, a Keria
Japonica up to the guttering on a 2 story house.
David Hill
Abacus Nurseries


But those are the exceptions, not the rule, or not in UK. Those 'miniature'
conifers are the very devil for that. I don't think anyone selling or
buying them expects the buyer to live in a house long enough to see them do
their worst.
This man really believed he was going to buy a Skimmia from us, sit back and
watch it grow that tall because that was the *norm* for that plant. The
trouble with that - and it happened today - was that he insisted that we
must be wrong because "I've read it on the internet". In the end, thank
goodness, he listened and didn't buy it because it would have disappointed
him so much when it didn't reach that height next year.
We had another customer today who just would not believe that Passiflora
antioquensis wasn't a Clematis, however many times Ray told her it wasn't.
Truly, she asked him 3 times if he was sure. ;-) She really wanted it to
be a Clematis and asked if she could grow it in a pot on a windowsill. Ours
stretches about 20' in different directions and in a commercial greenhouse
grows to and through the roof. We had to cut its predecessor back every
single year and this one was only planted this year!
It bothers me that people must make some expensive but above all, very
disappointing, mistakes. And if they take all their health advice off the
internet - well......!

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'