@Stephanie newish gardener Berberis roots are yellow if damaged, this may be helpful if there is a tangle of roots and you are unsure which is which.
This is something I discovered (and had forgotten till just now) while dealing with an infestation of sheep's sorrel at our previous house. The sorrel was growing all along a big bed and I started tackling it nearest a berberis. It took me a little while to realise the yellow roots did not belong to the weed.......fortunately the berberis seemed not to mind. I suspect /hope I would have remembered if I needed to do any weeding/plant dividing near any of the berberis here, but you have provided a timely reminder
No longer newish but can't think of a new name so will remain forever newish.
Some people use Spirea as hedging, so it's down to your preference when deciding what to keep. I think you'll have a job successfully separating those two from each other, so it could be hit and miss with whichever one you leave in place.
Lik a lot of flowering plants used as hedging, you clearly have to get the cutting done at the right time or you lose the flowers, and presumably this is the case with spirea. Certainly if I cut it now, that's the visible buds gone and I don't imagine it would produce more. I do tend to wonder why some lovely flowering plants get used in this way as so often the flowers are much reduced, usually inadvertently. Our neighbour has a number of nice flowering shrubs but he also has a tendency to cut and clip the whole garden to within an inch, nay 1/16 of an inch of its life. That means his (in his view) lovely camellia is a tightly clipped ball that had about six flowers on it. My camellia immediately next to it clearly offends him because it grows in its natural shape, and thus flowers prolifically. I know it offends him because he cut the top off it to help it grow into a neater shape. The previous owner warned us he had form for 'helping keep the garden tidy'. I foresee a fence going up......but I digress...!
No longer newish but can't think of a new name so will remain forever newish.
These people are a real PITA. There's several of them round here, and I've mentioned it quite often. Their plants always look dreadful It tends to be an old man thing for some reason - all that controlling....
However, he has no business touching your plants in that way. Legally, he can remove anything hanging over into his garden, but if he's reaching across and touching your plants, that's a real no no and needs doing what he's doing - nipping in the bud...
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I spoke to him about it and he agreed he had trimmed a bit off the side of the camellia that was apparently overhanging his side, preventing access to his bin, but he definitely hadn't cut the top off, oh no, not him. The very odd thing was that he wasn't at all worried that someone else must therefore have walked along the path in front of his house to get to my camellia.....can't imagine why he wouldn't be bothered by that...! And as for accessing his bin, he has a bit of decking in front of it on his side, but he persists in pulling it up from our side to get it out. It's just a round plastic bin that he uses for garden waste, so I'm in the process of 'training' him to get to it from his own side. And yes, he's an old man, used to be a cleaner, and is looked upon disparagingly by his next neighbour who is a prolific veg grower. It's an interesting terrace we've moved to....I'm quite glad we're the end house....!
No longer newish but can't think of a new name so will remain forever newish.
Grrr … I once had several healthily growing fuchsia cuttings I intended to grow as standards for a relation.
My (now) ex had a retired employee who showed fuchsias locally so he showed him my cuttings … as I (being a woman in her twenties) obviously didn’t know what I was doing, the chap nipped all the tips out ‘to make bushier plants’ 😡
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Grrr … I once had several healthily growing fuchsia cuttings I intended to grow as standards for a relation.
My (now) ex had a retired employee who showed fuchsias locally so he showed him my cuttings … as I (being a woman in her twenties) obviously didn’t know what I was doing, the chap nipped all the tips out ‘to make bushier plants’ 😡
Part of the reason he is now 'ex' I guess!
No longer newish but can't think of a new name so will remain forever newish.
Posts
I suspect /hope I would have remembered if I needed to do any weeding/plant dividing near any of the berberis here, but you have provided a timely reminder
I do tend to wonder why some lovely flowering plants get used in this way as so often the flowers are much reduced, usually inadvertently.
Our neighbour has a number of nice flowering shrubs but he also has a tendency to cut and clip the whole garden to within an inch, nay 1/16 of an inch of its life. That means his (in his view) lovely camellia is a tightly clipped ball that had about six flowers on it.
My camellia immediately next to it clearly offends him because it grows in its natural shape, and thus flowers prolifically. I know it offends him because he cut the top off it to help it grow into a neater shape. The previous owner warned us he had form for 'helping keep the garden tidy'. I foresee a fence going up......but I digress...!
It tends to be an old man thing for some reason - all that controlling....
However, he has no business touching your plants in that way. Legally, he can remove anything hanging over into his garden, but if he's reaching across and touching your plants, that's a real no no and needs doing what he's doing - nipping in the bud...
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
The very odd thing was that he wasn't at all worried that someone else must therefore have walked along the path in front of his house to get to my camellia.....can't imagine why he wouldn't be bothered by that...!
And as for accessing his bin, he has a bit of decking in front of it on his side, but he persists in pulling it up from our side to get it out. It's just a round plastic bin that he uses for garden waste, so I'm in the process of 'training' him to get to it from his own side.
And yes, he's an old man, used to be a cleaner, and is looked upon disparagingly by his next neighbour who is a prolific veg grower.
It's an interesting terrace we've moved to....I'm quite glad we're the end house....!
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.