ANNE SWITHINBANK’S MASTERCLASS
How to tame your overgrown lavatera and buddleja
Q
I HAVE too many overgrown shrubs in my garden, especially lavatera and buddleja. Can I prune them now so they don’t topple in winter? How should I prune them and how much can I cut off? Mrs Beryl Cravat, Southsea, Hants
A
Keen gardeners wanting to enjoy as many different plants as possible often pack in too many and end up with a towering mass of shrubs. In the long term, you could rework some of the beds and borders by either grubbing everything out and starting from scratch, or saving key trees and large shrubs at wider spacings and removing the rest.
T he skill lies in balancing your plants into different storeys, so long-lived trees tower above well-placed shrubs, which themselves preside over a range of shorter-lived smaller shrubs and herbaceous perennials. A great benefit of a well-stocked garden is that it is easy to run, as plants will shade out weeds.
Shrubs generally divide into those that are cut back quite hard in late winter or spring and others that are pruned immediately after flowering.
The first group will quickly grow new stems that flower in the same growing season. The latter group re-grow stems that stay on through winter and bloom the following year. Many gardeners inherit shrubs they don’t know, or can’t stop and prune them all at the perfect moment. If this sounds familiar, the worst thing you can do is trim everything back as though it were a hedge.
The best option is to thin out your shrubs by up to one third by selecting stems that are too tall or where thickets are forming, tracing them back inside the plant and cutting there.
You’ll know you have it right when there’s a pile of prunings but the plant doesn’t look pruned. This way, you are always leaving behind some flowering stems and encouraging healthy new growth from deep within the plant.