Forum home› Problem solving
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Too late to prune?

Poly-anthusPoly-anthus Posts: 155
in Problem solving
Can I cut back a big viburnum tinus now or have I left it too late?  Meant to do it earlier, but life got in the way! 

Posts

  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I’m not sure if you should but we’ve just cut ours back to the ground,  they’re huge monsters aren’t  they 😀
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    Ours after many years seems as though, even been pruned, has decided enough is enough.
    We will try to get another one as it has been a great plant in our garden.
    It never was a monster as we kept it back...maybe that was our problem?
  • Poly-anthusPoly-anthus Posts: 155
    Thanks Lyn.  Maybe I'll chance it then!  Bertrand-mabel, I have another one in a different part of the garden which I'm not sure about either.  Leaves falling off at a rate of knots, though where I chopped the bottom branches off last year, there are big new shoots sprouting. 
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    Christopher Lloyd, possibly the greatest gardener of the 20th. C., would say, "the right time to prune any plant, would be, when you happen to wander past, with a pair of secateurs in your hand"
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I pruned mine to the ankles recently, dug it out, and dumped it in a pot while I decide what to do with it.  New growth on it.
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Thank you Punkdoc,  I’m sure some people think I’m mad with some of the advise I give,  I just think that  if you don’t like the plant as it is, there’s nothing to lose. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I agree @Lyn. If you don't care for something, or it isn't doing well, there's nothing to lose by pruning.
    There was very little here when I moved in, but there was a couple of shrubs in the front garden. The first thing I did was remove, and bin, the horrible pink Spirea with those sickly yellow leaves.  :)  

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Sign In or Register to comment.