Prune back limes

One of my favourite late-winter, early-spring jobs is pruning back the pleached limes in the Lime Walk.

This involves cutting back all of last year’s growth to the bare knuckles of the permanent framework of just two horizontal branches stretching out either side of each tree where they meet and graft to their neighbour. These will then start to sprout in April and grow new 6ft long shoots by mid-summer.

The shoots of the large-leaved lime, Tilia platyphyllos ‘Rubra’, are a brilliant alizarin red, with those of the small-leaved lime, Tilia cordata, being orange, and

T. platyphyllos ‘Aurea’, also known as the golden twig broad-leaved lime, has brilliant yellow shoots

– all of which are particularly striking as they catch the low light of a winter’s afternoon. We shred some of the shoots and use them for mulch and others we keep, as their extreme flexibility makes them very useful as plant supports in the borders.

After pruning trees such as limes or hazels, keep sturdy cut shoots to use as supports in borders and vegetable beds