Barb wrote:
Make the shrubs smaller by removing a third of the stems completely each
year, remove the oldest stems and do it after each shrub flowers, after
the first 3 year cycle the shrubs will be much more managable. all the
prunings can be shredded and put straight back on the ground around the
shrubs.
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea


Thanks Charlie .... I've been pretty much doing that for a few years now,
but it's all been getting slowly bigger.

After illness and having been away for while this summer it's got away from
me, and completely beyond my height, my hedge trimmer and my wheely bin, and
I need some help.

The "hedge trimmer" sounds worrying. You need loppers to thin out from
the inside - and a shredder.

--
CTC Right to Ride Rep. for Richmond upon Thames