What would you do with a bay tree that had been allowed to go its own
way and is now about 35 foot high and also very wide, stuck in the
middle of a shrubbery?
I'd like to tame it a bit and they owners don't mind either way (I do
their garden once a week) as it is pushing into some really nice shrubs
but honestly, can you even attempt to chop this down to normal bay tree
size (well I mean normal as in most sensible people's idea of size)

Janet


PS. They have THE most fantastic foliage tree which they have no idea
what it is, it is slightly fastigate, and I can't reach the leaves yet
but will try next week. It's about 30 foot tall and pure yellow gold at
the moment. The light coming from it is intense as it's like it's bathed
in sunshine at the back of this border. It looks slightly like an elm or
maybe something similar,
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

In article ,
Janet Tweedy wrote:
What would you do with a bay tree that had been allowed to go its own
way and is now about 35 foot high and also very wide, stuck in the
middle of a shrubbery?
I'd like to tame it a bit and they owners don't mind either way (I do
their garden once a week) as it is pushing into some really nice shrubs
but honestly, can you even attempt to chop this down to normal bay tree
size (well I mean normal as in most sensible people's idea of size)

Or right down. It will reshoot from both old wood and its roots.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 04/06/2010 12:42, Janet Tweedy wrote:
What would you do with a bay tree that had been allowed to go its own
way and is now about 35 foot high and also very wide, stuck in the
middle of a shrubbery?

COuld you turn it into more of a tree than a huge bush,i.e. take off a
lot of the lower branches - thus giving the shrubs underneath a bit mot
chance to spread out.
It should recover......... it might even give it a new lease of life;-)

Jill

Hi Jill - lovely to see you back again!

On Fri, 4 Jun 2010 wrote:

What would you do with a bay tree that had been allowed to go its own
way and is now about 35 foot high and also very wide, stuck in the
middle of a shrubbery?
I'd like to tame it a bit and they owners don't mind either way (I do
their garden once a week) as it is pushing into some really nice shrubs
but honestly, can you even attempt to chop this down to normal bay tree
size (well I mean normal as in most sensible people's idea of size)

Or right down. It will reshoot from both old wood and its roots.

Yes, I did exactly this a couple of years ago and it's sprouting
vigorously from the stump.

David

--
David Rance writing from Caversham, Reading, UK
http://rance.org.uk

In article , Jill Bell
writes
On 04/06/2010 12:42, Janet Tweedy wrote:
What would you do with a bay tree that had been allowed to go its own
way and is now about 35 foot high and also very wide, stuck in the
middle of a shrubbery?

COuld you turn it into more of a tree than a huge bush,i.e. take off a
lot of the lower branches - thus giving the shrubs underneath a bit mot
chance to spread out.
It should recover......... it might even give it a new lease of life;-)

Jill


Could do Jill but then she wouldn't be bale to reach the leaves! Mind
you I've also uncovered three rockeries they didn't know they had, as
they were covered in ivy like humps. One of the rockeries is about 20
foot in length!
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

What would you do with a bay tree that had been allowed to go its own
way and is now about 35 foot high and also very wide, stuck in the
middle of a shrubbery?
I'd like to tame it a bit and they owners don't mind either way (I do
their garden once a week) as it is pushing into some really nice shrubs
but honestly, can you even attempt to chop this down to normal bay tree
size (well I mean normal as in most sensible people's idea of size)

Or right down. It will reshoot from both old wood and its roots.

Yes, I did exactly this a couple of years ago and it's sprouting
vigorously from the stump.

David

We have big bay trees, you can attack them and chop them to whatever size or
shape you want and they will forgive you and start growing again :-)

kate

On 05/06/2010 02:31, Janet Tweedy wrote:

It should recover......... it might even give it a new lease of life;-)

Jill


Could do Jill but then she wouldn't be bale to reach the leaves! Mind
you I've also uncovered three rockeries they didn't know they had, as
they were covered in ivy like humps. One of the rockeries is about 20
foot in length!

Sounds like you've got your own personal Helligan to play with:-)

Or you can take a bundle of cuttings, and once they've grown, remove the original completely.

In article , Jill Bell
writes

Sounds like you've got your own personal Helligan to play with:-)



Having cleared one medium sized rockery with a pick axe and lots of
wheelbarrow loads of ivy etc. and then planted rockery stuff there is a
multitude of Ceratostigma sprouting all over the place!! No idea it was
there except the owner said she thought she had seen one or two lovely
blue flowers about 3 years ago amongst the ivy!.
presumably the Ceratostigma has rooted throughout the 'hump' and with a
bit of luck i can get about 40 - 50 plants out of it
Just shows you the perversity of plants, my C. gave up on me twice in my
flower beds and here it's survived ivy and pick axing etc.!!
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk