"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Ophelia wrote:


"David Hill" wrote in message
...

My only addition to Spiders advice would be
If you have a lot of heavy pruning to do spread it out over a couple of
years or so.

Really??? I am very pleased you told me that! I would almost certainly
have lumbered in and chopped them down

It's the same as when you have to cut a hedge back really hard the
advice
is always cut one side one year and the other the following year.

Thank you very much, David!

There is an exception to the above. If you are pruning natural
deciduous shrubs (i.e. ones that produce multiple stems and go
back to bare stems in winter), you can cut them right down - just
not too often! That is what coppicing is, after all .... Similarly,
pruning plants that both naturally shoot from old wood and lose all
leaves in winter, you can cut them right back - again, not too often.

I would be afraid to cut anything back too hard in case I killed it, but
your comments are noted and are saved for future ref.


This can be worth doing when the plants are beyond any hope of
normal pruning! The reason for stressing that the plants are
fully deciduous is that many evergreen plants rely on their existing
leaves to fuel new shoots - ones like holly and yew will recover
from having all leaves removed, but will often be set back by a
year or so.

Right! I don't think I would have the courage to denude any plant. Btw why
would you want to remove all the leaves?


Some plants (like some clematis) can handle that treatment every
year, but most don't like it more than one year in three, or even
one year in ten for some of the coppiced trees.

I will be starting on the roses first. They have stopped flowering, when
would you suggest I made a start? Boy that is going to be fun I tied
in
all the long branches. I described it earlier as a thicket. I do not
exaggerate.

I would wait until the light goes - say, the beginning of November.
But it is unlikely that you would harm them starting now.

Nick, all that information is wonderful and I am very grateful!!! I might
make a start on the roses in the next month or so then. They are very
bunched up. Not sure how well I will do so, given that I am not too sure
which branches to cut out. There are a LOT! I tied them in when we came
back up to make them tidy. I wish I had been able to ask here before I did
that

I have spent many years living out of UK and when I have been here, I have
been working, so not much time for gardening. I am retired now and settled
so I am really enjoying learning and as for the amazing help I have had here
.... Well, I am Very Lucky!

btw I have clematis which I have trained over a trellis. They are in full
flower atm and I am enjoying them I didn't realise they needed to be
pruned at all! So much to learn

Saved! Many thanks for your kind post

Ophelia



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