Can I fix all of this, or do I just burn it all and start again?

nickoslesteros · July 2023

(obviously not literally burn

)

For anyone that has followed my posts, I have a garden which hasn't been maintained properly for a few years. I have this messy overgrown border of shrubs - Left to right I think Hebe, holly, pineapple guava in front of the holly, and forsythia, with some sorts of roses underneath to the right.

Would some cutting back, or more careful pruning help bring this back to a better shape? I'm totally overwhelmed by how much there is to do! I feel I need some pointers as to where to start! Help!

fidgetbones · July 2023

Start by deciding what you want to keep. Then cut out dead wood or wood that is crossing or rubbing other shrubs. Holly can be cut to the shape you want. Hebes tnd to be short lived, prune after flowering, cutting out the flowered wood. Forsythia, again , cut out flowered wood when it has finished flowering. Probably a bit late this year, you may lose next years flowers. Start with one, cut a bit, then stand back and give it a good look at, then cut a bit more.

JennyJ · July 2023

Forsythia is best pruned by taking out the oldest stems/trunks right down close to the base, maybe about one third of them each year. It tends to look awful if clipped into a blob.
Where abouts are you? Pineapple guava isn't very hardy so it seems like an odd thing to find surviving in a neglected garden unless you're somewhere particularly mild. The hebe might not survive pruning and they tend to splay out and look rubbish when they get old, so that one might be better removed.

Fairygirl · July 2023

I agree with the others - holly can easily be kept in check - it's often used as hedging, and forsythia will stand a fair bit of hard pruning. The Hebe might be better removed, as @JennyJ says, because they can fail if cut back hard. They're better trimmed a bit after flowering to keep them tidy. I also agree about the guava - a close up of that will help ID it correctly.
If you do a few close ups of other plants you aren't sure of, that also helps with an ID, and there are plenty of folk on the forum who are highly knowledgeable about roses, so they might be able to help with those.
It does come down to what you want to keep, as @fidgetbones says, but most shrubs will be fine with a fair bit of pruning. The main thing for some is doing it at the right time if they're flowering ones, but once you have the IDs of all of them, that will help with suitable advice for future.
Getting a fairly tidy plot will then help you decide what you want to keep, or not, and what else you might like to have

Busy-Lizzie · July 2023

Don't be so depressing @bédé. Why are you always so discouraging to new posters?

plant pauper · July 2023

It has taken me years to clear and sort most of my neglected garden and there is still one corner which needs a good looking at!
That's just the clearing bit!
I have discovered many treasures along the way but my main priority is not my garden, much as I would like it to be. Sometimes while concentrating on one bit the bit you did a month ago has jungled itself again!
Keep going. The only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. Of course the elephant doesn't grow back so whatever you do, when you do get it manageable, don't sit back and admire it. You'll end up back where you started.
Bog on till your nose bleeds!

bédé · July 2023

Busy Lizzie .... Because gardening is not one easy journey. And "advisors" at a distance not the best help.

But, hey! Whatever happened to my post? It wasn't moderated was it? B******s!

punkdoc · July 2023

And I was having a nice day until you came along trying to spoil things.

Obelixx · July 2023

Then what are you doing here yourself @bédé? If well-meaning and thoughtful advice at a distance is worthless, surely all your gratuitous criticism and rudeness about others and their gardens is just so much wasted time and space.

For the original poster, I agree, take one shrub at a time. The usual rule for pruning is to prune immediately after flowering if it flowers before June or in late winter/early spring if it flowers later. Even so, you can still remove any dead, damaged or diseased wood at any time and with shrubs like forsythia, philadelphus, dogwoods, you can take out one third of the stems back to the base every year. Choose the oldest looking stems with the brownest bark and repeat eery year to keep your shrubs rejuvenated.

With hebes, its best to prune a little every year as they can sulk and even die if you prune too hard. If they're looking tired, tatty, mostly bare stemmed then best to hoik them out, improve the soil and plant something better.

When we bought a house in 1983 there was badly overgrown holly which I pruned and tidied by removing all the stems to my head height. It vastly improved the shape and let inlight, air and rain to plants nearby and we could walk past without being mugged by prickly foliage. In our last garden we planted a holly hedge and kept it trimmed so you can do either.

After all that, the best thing you can do is to weed under every shrub and then, after a good rainfall, mulch every shrub base with some organic material which can be well-rotted garden compost and/or well-rotted manure. You can buy cheap compost or soil improver at the GC or DIY if neither of these is available. Do it in autumn every year and the worms will work it in over winter and your soil and thus plants will get healthier every year.

nickoslesteros · July 2023

JennyJ said:

Forsythia is best pruned by taking out the oldest stems/trunks right down close to the base, maybe about one third of them each year. It tends to look awful if clipped into a blob.
Where abouts are you? Pineapple guava isn't very hardy so it seems like an odd thing to find surviving in a neglected garden unless you're somewhere particularly mild. The hebe might not survive pruning and they tend to splay out and look rubbish when they get old, so that one might be better removed.

Im in NW England - Wirral coast. Can be fairly exposed at times. Think the consensus is to lie the Hebe. It's quite awkwardly squashed in, anyway.

nickoslesteros · July 2023

Thanks for the input. I will start one shrub at a time. I don't have the time or budget to replace too much stuff (especially as, for me, my garden is largish - 40m long or thereabout), so I need to make the best of what I have. I would have liked to have had more time over the past years to maintain, but pressures of work meant I was away for long parts of the year. Luckily for my garden and my family, things have eased!

I'm trying not to be as pessimistic as my post jokingly suggested, I'm fully aware my knowledge is low, but I am working hard to improve it reading everything I can and browsing (and asking) on these forums is a great way to test opinion or to give confidence when chopping into an established plant/shrub. I know nothing beats first hand experience with tools in hand from an expert on site, but I simply do not have that resource so I do the best I can.

I'll try cutting the Hebe back as there is a lot of shoots low down on the inside. If it fails, then I know ti have expected it.

I'm off to now find the best book on pruning I can find...

Thanks all for the input. It is really valued. It will keep me busy over the coming weeks

Can I fix all of this, or do I just burn it all and start again?

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