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Too late to severely cut back budlea davidii??
Hi All,
I had some great advice form this group pruning my semi fallen budlea earlier this year. I took the risk and cut it back to 1ft and it has now sprouted new growth like a weed and looks great. (I still find it hard to believe that I dont kill everything I touch in the garden - Im new to this gardening lark). I have a couple more which look tall and straggly and after such a success I know want to know if it is too late too cut these others right back? Any tips, much appreciated! Many thanks Rebecca |
Too late to severely cut back budlea davidii??
|
Too late to severely cut back budlea davidii??
In message , Rebecca
writes I had some great advice form this group pruning my semi fallen budlea earlier this year. I took the risk and cut it back to 1ft and it has now sprouted new growth like a weed and looks great. (I still find it hard to believe that I dont kill everything I touch in the garden - Im new to this gardening lark). I have a couple more which look tall and straggly and after such a success I know want to know if it is too late too cut these others right back? I'm sure you won't kill it by cutting it back hard if you need to but (goes out to look at b~ d~ in garden) you may reduce it's flowering this year (though I can't see any buds forming on mine yet :). -- dave @ stejonda Bring culture back to NTL. http://www.performance-channel.com/ |
Too late to severely cut back budlea davidii??
In message , Nick Maclaren
writes In article , (Rebecca) writes: | | I had some great advice form this group pruning my semi fallen | budlea earlier this year. I took the risk and cut it back to 1ft and | it has now sprouted new growth like a weed and looks great. (I still | find it hard to believe that I dont kill everything I touch in the | garden - Im new to this gardening lark). | | I have a couple more which look tall and straggly and after such a | success I know want to know if it is too late too cut these others | right back? It's getting a bit late for such drastic treatment, because the new wood may not ripen for the winter. Really? My davidii has only grown to half its usual height so far so there'll be a lot of new growth yet and I've never had problems with its hardiness over winter. Maybe it depends on where Rebecca is in the UK? -- dave @ stejonda Bring culture back to NTL. http://www.performance-channel.com/ |
Too late to severely cut back budlea davidii??
In article , "dave @ stejonda" writes: | | It's getting a bit late for such drastic treatment, because the | new wood may not ripen for the winter. | | Really? My davidii has only grown to half its usual height so far so | there'll be a lot of new growth yet and I've never had problems with its | hardiness over winter. Maybe it depends on where Rebecca is in the UK? It does. But, except in the mildest areas, late summer growth of buddleia is very likely to be killed. This is not a big deal, as it merely delays flowering, but I would be chary of cutting a buddleia back to 1' now. Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
Too late to severely cut back budlea davidii??
In article , Stephen Howard writes: | | I don't think ripening of new wood would be a problem - Bud's throw | out new shoots right the way into Autumn, so there's always new wood | that has to make it through winter...and I've never yet notice any | frost damage on new stems. Mine get it even the mild winters we have been having recently. They suffer some damage at -5 Celcius and considerable damage at -10 Celcius. At the sort of lows we had up until a decade ago (-15 Celcius), even half-ripe wood may be killed. | I'd be inclined to let them grow on, to build up the roots, then hack | them back in late September. I would be inclined to trim them now, and cut back to 1' next spring after the risk of serious frost is over. Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
Too late to severely cut back budlea davidii??
On 30 Jun 2004 11:28:40 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:
In article , Stephen Howard writes: | | I don't think ripening of new wood would be a problem - Bud's throw | out new shoots right the way into Autumn, so there's always new wood | that has to make it through winter...and I've never yet notice any | frost damage on new stems. Mine get it even the mild winters we have been having recently. They suffer some damage at -5 Celcius and considerable damage at -10 Celcius. At the sort of lows we had up until a decade ago (-15 Celcius), even half-ripe wood may be killed. | I'd be inclined to let them grow on, to build up the roots, then hack | them back in late September. I would be inclined to trim them now, and cut back to 1' next spring after the risk of serious frost is over. That's a good point - my garden is fairly well protected from frost, only certain parts get the full whack - so there's a chance that the Bud's have never been hit by a real freeze. In which case, yes, trimming back now, followed by a hard cut in spring would be sensible. Regards, -- Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations www.shwoodwind.co.uk Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk |
Too late to severely cut back budlea davidii??
Stephen Howard wrote in
: On 30 Jun 2004 11:28:40 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote: I would be inclined to trim them now, and cut back to 1' next spring after the risk of serious frost is over. That's a good point - my garden is fairly well protected from frost, only certain parts get the full whack - so there's a chance that the Bud's have never been hit by a real freeze. In which case, yes, trimming back now, followed by a hard cut in spring would be sensible. I've never lived anywhere where just hacking the things back when it seems like a good day for it did anything other than slow them down very slightly ;-) I'm pretty sure that advice is good for lowland Devon, Cornwall, Oxford and Chester: in colder places, your mileage may vary! Victoria -- gardening on a north-facing hill in South-East Cornwall -- |
Too late to severely cut back budlea davidii??
In article , Victoria Clare writes: | | I'm pretty sure that advice is good for lowland Devon, Cornwall, Oxford and | Chester: in colder places, your mileage may vary! Be careful about Oxford. Quite a lot of Oxfordshire drops to the same temperatures as Cambridge, though typically with less of the bitter wind syndrome. Sheltered spots in Oxford and Cambridge will have no trouble - ones that are exposed to winter frost and wind may do. Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
Too late to severely cut back budlea davidii??
In message , Nick Maclaren
writes In article , "dave @ stejonda" writes: | | It's getting a bit late for such drastic treatment, because the | new wood may not ripen for the winter. | | Really? My davidii has only grown to half its usual height so far so | there'll be a lot of new growth yet and I've never had problems with its | hardiness over winter. Maybe it depends on where Rebecca is in the UK? It does. But, except in the mildest areas, late summer growth of buddleia is very likely to be killed. This is not a big deal, as it merely delays flowering, but I would be chary of cutting a buddleia back to 1' now. I have never noticed serious die back on mine in N Yorks. But I would not want to prune them hard right now as they are almost coming into flower. I might be tempted to thin out straggling or damaged stems though. Hard pruning appears to delay flowering of established budleas by a week or so. I have two identical bushes in similar positions though one was blocking the driveway and was severely cut back last year. It is still in bud the other is well into flower. Regards, -- Martin Brown |
Too late to severely cut back budlea davidii??
In article , Martin Brown writes: | | It does. But, except in the mildest areas, late summer growth of | buddleia is very likely to be killed. This is not a big deal, | as it merely delays flowering, but I would be chary of cutting | a buddleia back to 1' now. | | I have never noticed serious die back on mine in N Yorks. But I would | not want to prune them hard right now as they are almost coming into | flower. It's never been serious here, but the tips of most shoots and some whole shoots get killed every year. As that is less than needs pruning away, it is unimportant. What would be risky in colder areas would be shearing off now, meaning that ALL the new wood is unripe next winter. | I might be tempted to thin out straggling or damaged stems though. I agree. | Hard pruning appears to delay flowering of established budleas by a week | or so. I have two identical bushes in similar positions though one was | blocking the driveway and was severely cut back last year. It is still | in bud the other is well into flower. My experience is that frost pruning has a similar effect. Of course, I could be mistaking the cause, and it might be drying, sub-zero winds rather than the temperature as such. Whatever. Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
Too late to severely cut back budlea davidii??
In article , Nick Maclaren
writes In article , "dave @ stejonda" writes: | | It's getting a bit late for such drastic treatment, because the | new wood may not ripen for the winter. | | Really? My davidii has only grown to half its usual height so far so | there'll be a lot of new growth yet and I've never had problems with its | hardiness over winter. Maybe it depends on where Rebecca is in the UK? It does. But, except in the mildest areas, late summer growth of buddleia is very likely to be killed. This is not a big deal, as it merely delays flowering, but I would be chary of cutting a buddleia back to 1' now. Hmm. I'm trying to get my head around that. Buddleia davidii flowers late (August or so by memory - certainly no signs of flowers yet). Therefore, rather than the rule of thumb 'prune just after flowering', it's better to prune in spring. I usually tidy mine up in autumn and prune right back early in the year. At least I think that's what I do! So if spring pruning is OK, why would winter 'pruning' by frost damage flowering at all? Or are you saying that if your flowering period is earlier, so that you can prune after flowering and still get in some growth that season, *and* that growth survives over winter, then you will get flowers even earlier the following year? -- Kay "Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river" |
Too late to severely cut back budlea davidii??
"Rebecca" wrote in message m... Hi All, I had some great advice form this group pruning my semi fallen budlea earlier this year. I took the risk and cut it back to 1ft and it has now sprouted new growth like a weed and looks great. (I still find it hard to believe that I dont kill everything I touch in the garden - Im new to this gardening lark). I have a couple more which look tall and straggly and after such a success I know want to know if it is too late too cut these others right back? Any tips, much appreciated! Many thanks Rebecca ----------------------------- I have always waited until spring before hard pruning and get a good display of long stemmed blooms. A neighbour, knowing no better, last year reduced all growths by half immediately after flowering.. The bush is now a solid mass of bloom with probably ten times the normal. Looks fantastic but then there was a mild winter!! [that's my excuse as I had warned her!!]. Yours should be about to bloom and can be lightly pruned afterwards to see what happens and then more severely in the spring if there has been any damage. Regards Brian. |
Too late to severely cut back budlea davidii??
In article ,
Kay wrote: Hmm. I'm trying to get my head around that. Buddleia davidii flowers late (August or so by memory - certainly no signs of flowers yet). Therefore, rather than the rule of thumb 'prune just after flowering', it's better to prune in spring. I usually tidy mine up in autumn and prune right back early in the year. At least I think that's what I do! So if spring pruning is OK, why would winter 'pruning' by frost damage flowering at all? Or are you saying that if your flowering period is earlier, so that you can prune after flowering and still get in some growth that season, *and* that growth survives over winter, then you will get flowers even earlier the following year? Yes. My comment was specifically against cutting it RIGHT back to 1'. This often has the effect of making it put a lot of effort into reshooting, whereupon ALL of its younger growth might be killed, leaving only very old growth alive. That will at least set it back severely and perhaps kill it - yes, even buddleia. Pruning it moderately would lead to a more modest shooting and, if that were all killed, there would still be some middle-aged growth for it to reshoot from. The point is that cutting right back to very old growth is a major shock. Not a problem. But, if the plant then busts a gut to regrow and THEN is cut back again, it is a pretty rough treatment. That is why the books recommend waiting until spring for such extreme pruning. Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
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