I've got a couple of Cistus bushes, about three years old and three
feet high, which are looking a bit leggy with a lot of bare wood lower
down. Ideally I'd like to prune them back to about six inches (i'e.
beneath all the green shoots) to make them bush out again. But I
remember reading somewhere that Cistus don't like being pruned hard.
Should I give it a go or will it just kill them?

thanks

Robert

'Robert',

Remove dead wood in the spring. Hard pruning is definitely not
tolerated.

Regards,
Emrys Davies.




"Robert Davies" wrote in message
...
I've got a couple of Cistus bushes, about three years old and three
feet high, which are looking a bit leggy with a lot of bare wood lower
down. Ideally I'd like to prune them back to about six inches (i'e.
beneath all the green shoots) to make them bush out again. But I
remember reading somewhere that Cistus don't like being pruned hard.
Should I give it a go or will it just kill them?

thanks

Robert

"Robert Davies" wrote in message
...
I've got a couple of Cistus bushes, about three years old and three
feet high, which are looking a bit leggy with a lot of bare wood lower
down. Ideally I'd like to prune them back to about six inches (i'e.
beneath all the green shoots) to make them bush out again. But I
remember reading somewhere that Cistus don't like being pruned hard.
Should I give it a go or will it just kill them?

I found Cistus really easy to take soft/semi-ripe cuttings from. My cuttings
from early last year have grown from 3" to about 15" already.

Martin

That's a good suggestion - I'll try taking cuttings and then hopefully
be able to replace the bushes with new ones next year.

Thanks

Robert

----------
In article , "Martin Sykes"
wrote:

I found Cistus really easy to take soft/semi-ripe cuttings from. My cuttings
from early last year have grown from 3" to about 15" already.

Martin