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What is this shrub please?

floralflofloralflo Posts: 3
in Problem solving
Recently moved and have this very large shrub in the garden. It’s now in flower and they look like the flowers on potatoes. The leaves are variegated. Please can anyone help me identify it (is it a type of solanum)? And any ideas on when and how to prune it please? I don’t think it’s been pruned for a few years as it’s a mass of branches and it’s huge (over 2.5m tall x 3m wide). Many thanks for your help. 

Posts

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Yes - a Solanum. They come in blue and white. 
    Not something I grow, but someone else will be able to advise on maintenance. They're usually grown as climbers    :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • PlantmindedPlantminded Posts: 3,580
    It's a variegated Solanum, the Chilean potato tree.  It's classified as a climber but it becomes woody and shrub like with age, like your plant.  You can either take the whole plant down to as low a level as you like, creating a woody framework, or just cut out a proportion of the existing stems to create more space within the plant.  If you take the first option, it probably won't flower again this year.  They are robust plants and easily take a severe pruning.  They are semi-evergreen and can retain some leaves over winter, depending on where you live.  (I recently removed one as it was getting a bit thuggish!)
    Wirral. Sandy, free draining soil.


  • floralflofloralflo Posts: 3
    Thank you both for your help. I appreciate it. When would be the best time to prune it? I’m thinking I’ll go for a hard prune right back. Can I do that now or is it better in winter? Thanks 
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    they're beasts, and can grow over 10 feet in a year. 
    Beware
    Devon.
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    We pruned ours hard last year after flowering and it's now flowering well, just the right size, but it will get another trim after flowering this year. It had got horribly overgrown when we bought this house. 
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I dug one out in the end,  cut it right back every Spring and it will grow up to cover a shed by the Nd of the year.  It’s not a climber,  if you want it up a trellis you’ll need to tie it. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • SendmesunSendmesun Posts: 63
    Pruning after flowering yes. I have an older one in front of a shed in a tree like shape that is tethered. To be honest I'm pruning it all the time in summer cutting back bits that are reaching for the heavens so that it dosent get too top heavy and snap its supporting branches in the wind.

    It's very tolerant to a tidy up at any time I just don't cut all the flowers off. the flowers will be gone by August. It will get a good haircut then and once it loses its leaves I'll remove selected branches. Half of mine snapped off in the autumn winds and the other half still it recovered and took that space. Indestructible really!

    I have cuttings from last autumn growing well if and when I get tired of all that pruning! 
  • floralflofloralflo Posts: 3
    Thank you all so much for your help and advice. It’s been really helpful and I’m going to be quite ruthless with it and hack it right back after flowering. I don’t think the previous owner had ever pruned it. Dear shrub won’t know what’s hit it!😂 Thank you all.
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