In my front "garden" (it's a bed that faces onto the council's grass kind of
thing) I have a Spiraea "Japonica Firelight". It says on the tin that it's a
shrub and the internet describes it as "upright", but looking at it
yesterday while I was weeding and stuff like that, it's... I can't think of
a good word. Kind of "sprawling" rather than an upright shrubby shape. Will
the stems get harder and support a "shape" as it gets more mature? Should I
cut it to a particular shape? I can't quite describe what I mean, but it
looks at the moment like it wants to just sprawl along the ground rather
than grow up. It's not very big at the moment, about two foot across.


Ian

On Jun 2, 5:48*pm, "Ian B" wrote:
In my front "garden" (it's a bed that faces onto the council's grass kind of
thing) I have a Spiraea "Japonica Firelight". It says on the tin that it's a
shrub and the internet describes it as "upright", but looking at it
yesterday while I was weeding and stuff like that, it's... I can't think of
a good word. Kind of "sprawling" rather than an upright shrubby shape. Will
the stems get harder and support a "shape" as it gets more mature? Should I
cut it to a particular shape? I can't quite describe what I mean, but it
looks at the moment like it wants to just sprawl along the ground rather
than grow up. It's not very big at the moment, about two foot across.

Ian

If you will buy Spiraeam in tins.
I'd cut it back after flowering, the new growth should grow to give
you much more upright growth., though it depends to some extent on the
variety.
A picture would help.
David

Dave Hill wrote:
On Jun 2, 5:48 pm, "Ian B" wrote:
In my front "garden" (it's a bed that faces onto the council's grass
kind of thing) I have a Spiraea "Japonica Firelight". It says on the
tin that it's a shrub and the internet describes it as "upright",
but looking at it yesterday while I was weeding and stuff like that,
it's... I can't think of a good word. Kind of "sprawling" rather
than an upright shrubby shape. Will the stems get harder and support
a "shape" as it gets more mature? Should I cut it to a particular
shape? I can't quite describe what I mean, but it looks at the
moment like it wants to just sprawl along the ground rather than
grow up. It's not very big at the moment, about two foot across.

Ian

If you will buy Spiraeam in tins.
I'd cut it back after flowering, the new growth should grow to give
you much more upright growth., though it depends to some extent on the
variety.
A picture would help.

Thanks Dave. I just figured out how to get a cameraphone bluetoothed to my
PC or whatnot, so now proudly present a first foray into plant photography--

http://s1143.photobucket.com/albums/...t=Image003.jpg

http://s1143.photobucket.com/albums/...t=Image004.jpg

(Image host is "family safe").



Ian

On Jun 4, 9:15*am, "Ian B" wrote:
Dave Hill wrote:
On Jun 2, 5:48 pm, "Ian B" wrote:
In my front "garden" (it's a bed that faces onto the council's grass
kind of thing) I have a Spiraea "Japonica Firelight". It says on the
tin that it's a shrub and the internet describes it as "upright",
but looking at it yesterday while I was weeding and stuff like that,
it's... I can't think of a good word. Kind of "sprawling" rather
than an upright shrubby shape. Will the stems get harder and support
a "shape" as it gets more mature? Should I cut it to a particular
shape? I can't quite describe what I mean, but it looks at the
moment like it wants to just sprawl along the ground rather than
grow up. It's not very big at the moment, about two foot across.

Ian

If you will buy Spiraeam in tins.
I'd cut it back after flowering, the new growth should grow to give
you much more upright growth., though it depends to some extent on the
variety.
A picture would help.

Thanks Dave. I just figured out how to get a cameraphone bluetoothed to my
PC or whatnot, so now proudly present a first foray into plant photography--

http://s1143.photobucket.com/albums/...rden%201/?acti...

http://s1143.photobucket.com/albums/...rden%201/?acti...

(Image host is "family safe").

Ian- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

That looks quite normal for a young Spiraea the new growth comes up
through the old and gradualy the plant get taller, each lot of new
growth getting taller than the last.

Dave Hill wrote:
On Jun 4, 9:15 am, "Ian B" wrote:
Dave Hill wrote:
On Jun 2, 5:48 pm, "Ian B" wrote:
In my front "garden" (it's a bed that faces onto the council's
grass kind of thing) I have a Spiraea "Japonica Firelight". It
says on the tin that it's a shrub and the internet describes it as
"upright", but looking at it yesterday while I was weeding and
stuff like that, it's... I can't think of a good word. Kind of
"sprawling" rather than an upright shrubby shape. Will the stems
get harder and support a "shape" as it gets more mature? Should I
cut it to a particular shape? I can't quite describe what I mean,
but it looks at the moment like it wants to just sprawl along the
ground rather than grow up. It's not very big at the moment, about
two foot across.

Ian

If you will buy Spiraeam in tins.
I'd cut it back after flowering, the new growth should grow to give
you much more upright growth., though it depends to some extent on
the variety.
A picture would help.

Thanks Dave. I just figured out how to get a cameraphone bluetoothed
to my PC or whatnot, so now proudly present a first foray into plant
photography--

http://s1143.photobucket.com/albums/...rden%201/?acti...

http://s1143.photobucket.com/albums/...rden%201/?acti...

(Image host is "family safe").

Ian- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

That looks quite normal for a young Spiraea the new growth comes up
through the old and gradualy the plant get taller, each lot of new
growth getting taller than the last.

Thanks Dave, should I snip off that growth at the bottom after it's flowered
or will the plant sort of take care of its own shape?


Ian