"Jeff Layman" wrote in message
...
On 12/12/2013 00:20, Frank Booth wrote:
A neighbour planted a Viburnum Tinus in a narrow raised bed which is
basically a double 4' wall with a hollow area used for planting on top.
At
the moment it's overrun with Muscari, and at one end is this very
healthy
lookung Viburnum Tinus full of pink bud. The viburnum is about 2' tall
so
it's a young shrub. He asked me how to improve the look of the bed as it
currently looks a mess with all the Muscari leaves. I suggested
Aubtretia,
Iberis and a few other alpine types. I then mentioned that his Viburnum
was
planted in the wrong place and needed to be moved as its potential
height
and spread is 8'. He was insistent on leaving it in there asking could
it
not be pruned sufficiently each year to keep ot at its current size. I
pointed out that it was possible but the roots would spread and possibly
damage his wall.

So, is my neighbour ok leaving the shrub in this bed or should it be
moved?

One thing which might be possible is to dig up the Viburnum and put it
in pot, then replace it in the raised bed. This would have the effect
of acting like a bonsai planting by restricting the roots, and so
keeping topgrowth down. Your neighbour would have to be pretty rigorous
about watering it in dry spells, though!

This may kill two birds with one stone. You mentioned that the bed is
overrun with muscari, and he wants to improve its appearance. Do you
know just /how/ difficult it will be to get rid of the muscari?! You
can try spraying it with glyphosate, but you'll need to do it several
times and it will probably take more than a year to kill it all off.
And if you think you can just dig it up and take out the bulbs, think
again! The damn bulbs have dozens of tiny bulbs attached to them, which
break off and fall all over the place at the slightest disturbance,
ready to make a new flowering-size bulb in a couple of years. I speak
from experience, having tried to get muscari out of a raised peat bed!
It might be best to remove all the soil from the bed to a depth of at
least 9 inches, and dump it at the bottom of a very deep compost heap,
or offer it to someone who has a lot of pond plants to pot up. The
bulbs won't survive immersion in water.

Dealing with the Muscari problem isn't too bad I've discovered providing you
get a fork (even a hand fork) underneath you can lift a clump of them up
intact. Even if a few bubils do break off, just rummaging your hand through
the soil you can pick up most if not all of the bubils.If you miss a few,
when the leaves of them surface in autumn it's easy to hand pull them out.

The bonsai thing with the Viburnum sounds a good idea, but if I'm not
mistaken with Bonsai cultivation don't you have to keep trimming the roots
to keep the plant small? That would mean having to keep digging up the pot
and knocking the plant out, pruning roots, then replanting which is a
hassle. I don't think it would do the Viburnum much good either as they
don't like being disturbed.