the lavatera i've got has put on a huge amount of growth this year, its still flowering its socks off and it must have quadrupled in size at least. I'm guessing its taken up a lot of the tomato feed which i've feed the nearby clematis with fortnightly.

anyways I'm wondering when the best time to prune is, and how hard can it be pruned. As lots of lavatera's i've seen about have lots of woody growth at the base which looks very unsightly imo unless hidden.

Can you prune them in a similiar way to buddelia? My idea was to wait until late winter/early spring when its new growth has started; find the bottom two shoots on each stem and prune above it. Do you have to take account of the main stems in any way,as its got 4 which again i planned to take off near to the bottom, so leaving a short base from which it can grow from and not suffer long bare woody stems

Also do you think it might suffer from a prune is a couple of weeks when its finished flowering, as a number of the stems are blocking light from an azeala which is against a wall and doesn't get any direct sun anyway. The azeala would probably be ok anyways, but just wanted to maximise its light with winter approaching

thanks for your help

the answer is prune down to the ground in january...and i mean right down , dont worry about leaving any old wood showing...any later and you can t avoid hitting new growth...that means you can chop off any bits you like now....this treatment by the way also works for that Fuchsia with the large showy flowers that is totally hardy called " Mrs Popple "....every other year is just as good for the Fuchsia...or even every 3rd year...if you had 3 of them you could rotate the hights over time...this kind of " down to the ground " pruning works if you re prepared to feed the things as and when...you get very natural looking shapes ...be prepared to romove completly any new leading stems that cross or grow inward...i love this pruning method...have a go...!!!

thanks eyebright, I look forward to being brutal with the pruning come jan. any time in jan good, or is it better early to ensure you do it before new growth starts?

does the same trick work with any hardy fuschia? also i'd apprecaite it if you'd also post your feeding schedule as i've a few fuschias which i planned to cut down to the first two new shoots of growth next year, but i'm tempted to try your method

I grew Barnsley and Rosa ones back in Cheshire. They usually kept their
leaves all winter. I just cut back what I wanted to in autumn, just to get a
good shape for the winter adn to prevent them breaking in the wind, then
pruned again hard in spring. Usually by this time the plant had soem frost
damage on some of the leaves which I would just cut off. Both seemed to
respond well to this.

--
Hayley
(gardening on well drained, alkaline clay in Somerset)

"H Ryder" wrote in message
...
I grew Barnsley and Rosa ones back in Cheshire. They usually kept their
leaves all winter. I just cut back what I wanted to in autumn, just to get
a
good shape for the winter adn to prevent them breaking in the wind, then
pruned again hard in spring. Usually by this time the plant had soem frost
damage on some of the leaves which I would just cut off. Both seemed to
respond well to this.

I'm in Cornwall, so my pink lavatera usually winters quite well, if
sheltered from the wind. I grow mine in a large tub.

Vee