Pyracantha question

I have a shrub that has tripled its size in the two years since I bought it. I've always wanted one, but I didn't know it would grow so fast.

My question is this: the shrub sits in front of a wooden fence that is about 4 ft high. I was thinking I could espalier it on the fence, but it's already too tall. If I don't tie it up, it's very droopy, but pretty soon I won't have anything tall enough to tie it to to keep it from drooping so drastically.

Anyone have any ideas on what I should do?

Diane

Since it is growing so vigorously anyway....prune it!

Cut it to whatever size suits you, to begin the espalier effort. The vigor will soon hide anything you might consider damaging, and go from there.

Have fun with it, and post pictures of the process.

I agree. Prune it hard and train it.

Oooh, I love it when you guys talk dirty!

But just exactly how would you go about the process? Of espaliering.

I'd use that stretchy marker tape to mark the branches to keep and you don't want to be reaching in there too much with the spines. I'd start with the top and remove the top growth to the level required followed by standard DD&D (Dead, Diseased & Damaged) removal. Then I'd run the string along the fence. I'd then take out the branches not required.

I espalied a large old Pyracantha infront of my folks house many years ago to prevent it from sending out branches that take your shirt off as you walk by. It worked for the most part but my mother is a strong believer in hacking something to the last ounce of life and she doesn't follow the espalier lines.

Do you have any photos of it? I'm a very visual person, my weakness I guess.

OK, thanks. I was not prepared for this rapid growth. Do they all do that? Trust me, it doesn't need any DD&D trimming!!

I've only seen one that was displayed that way in a magazine. All the real life ones I see are just huge things loaded with red berries in the fall.

I'll take before pictures tomorrow or the next day as I have no pictures of it yet, put on my long gloves, and see what I can do. The fence has slats so I have plenty of places where I can tie branches.

Thanks so much.



This message was edited May 1, 2006 9:32 PM

We had pyrantha bushes against our back fence that grew to be about 15 feet tall. We pruned the lower branches and let them become trees (like ligustrum trees). They were lovely and I loved them in the fall when they were golden and in the winter when they were red, especially at Christmas for decorations. The cedar wax wings came by at the beginning of February, usually, and had a feast on them. We had them 16 years.
One day I came home from work and my Paul Bunyon son had cut them down so they could make a basketball court in the backyard. I still feel sick when I think of it.

OMGosh!! That just makes your heart hurt, doesn't it?

How did you get them to be trees without flopping over before they get that tall?

How did we get them to be trees without flopping over. We tied them to the fence. We also propped them with a 2x4. They were gorgeous as shrubs and as trees. When they were full shrubs they hid the ties and the props. One day I found the second son, about 3 years old, standing under the bush just eating away at the berries.

I love cedar waxwings. Sorry to hear about the pyracantha, liveoaklady. My mother used to do that to all my plants and then tell me it died because it was in the wrong spot but it was healthy a few days previous.

I guess you could easily use a bamboo stake for the pyracantha to keep it upright until it is high enough or plant it against a fence like liveoaklady did.

Mine is against a 3 or 4 ft. wooden fence and I'm thinking it would look really nice there in any shape. I can put a 2 x 4 behind it to have something taller to tie it to. I'm kind of liking the espalier thing, though. Our garden is far from formal and that might give us a little class around here!!

I'm interested in espaliering (is that correct terminology?) a Contorta corylus avellana (Harry Lauder's walking stick), it can grow painfully slow here, but it gets Very Large. But if was flat, would it still twist? Pyracantha is beautiful, not hardy for me.

Ok Prairie, here's the pic of the Pyracantha. I had to do some welding on my truck today at the folks house so I got a pic and as the pic shows, the shape hasn't been kept up. There's a Choisya ternata in bloom below. To espalier a Corylus avellana cv contorta defeats the purpose IMHO. The whole purpose of that plant is random branches in multiple directions and not formal training. I could of taken a pic of my mothers tree which is about 15'. She shapes it into a lolipop which I think makes it look ugly.

But you can sure tell what the shape was that you were trying to maintain. It's such a big plant!! It's even pretty the way it is now.

Here is a picture of my pyracantha and the fence in question. The black pole you can see is a bird feeder hanging on the other side. Including the gate, which is to the left out of the picture, there is 30 ft of fence. In the very corner the hydrangeas take up some space in the summer, as they get very large, too. But in the summer the pyracantha would not be doing anything spectacular, right? Just growing?

PeeGee, I agree with Growin -- I think you could do it, but much of the attractiveness of Walking Stick is its free-form habit. Do you really want to stifle that spirit?

Guy S.

No. I'm not much for stifleing, ask Archie. ROFL (If you're too young, don't ask.) I don't think I have room for it anyway.

I think I'm gonna plant hydrangeas, after seeing some in Terry's diary pages. I'm not sure what cultivar would work best, but I think maybe Sikes Dwarf is too small. I want an upright plant, not a flat one. Aren't there any smaller cultivars you have experience with? I can't believe everyone here has unlimited room to grow massive shrubs.

oops, wrong thread. But thanks for telling me about the corylus. The pyracantha bush is one of my favorites too. Looks like you'll have some fun training it too.

This message was edited May 3, 2006 10:09 AM

This is a plant I always associate with Grandmothers and fireblight. I think this is because I only see it in the gardens of very old people, and the reason for this--I surmise--is because people stopped growing it because it is so susceptible to fireblight. Am I right in this? In every other way, it would seem a great, four-season garden plant.

Scott

I think you're right Scott. There are better plants out there. I did the white variegated form and they never did well through winter. The spines aren't fun to have in the garden either.

I wish I knew what variety mine is. It is very well behaved...is growing nicely but not excesssively..has lots of blooms and berries. It is free-standing, and is no problem mowing around.
I'm happy to have it. A second one wasn't doing as well. I dug it up and planted it by our house this spring. ( Scott, I am a Grandmother!!!! How old is "very old" ? )

Er, uh, very old is a relative term. Age is in the eye of the beholder. You're only as old as you feel. Something something young at heart. I'm bailing!

Scott

Scott, Stepped right into that one didn't you? LOL
I am a great-grandmother and still going. Never thought I would live this long.

What is fire blight? One is never too old to learn.

I had only seen pyracantha bushes as free-standing and looking nice all year, white flowers in the spring, red berries in the fall and winter, and green all the time. I'd like mine to be free-standing, but the thing has taken this growth spurt and now I don't know quite what to do with it. It's not where anyone will bump into its thorns. Since it's next to a fence..............well, you understand, I'm sure.

Diane

I had the entire brick wall of my garage covered in pyracantha and after Katrina hit it has layed over or fallen down on the ground, well I intended to stake it back up with some long pieces of rebar, but after tugging on one and it not budging at all I'm left with a dilema should I cut them off @ about 2' high or should I attempt with a Bobcat or something to restake them up?(Lived @ this house about 2 years, previous owners planted them in about 1988, Massive root sytems!) I have access to some heavy equip., but am wondering is it worth the effort. Some of them are partly uprooted, but not enough to damage them. Suggestions.

Gosh, I am so sorry for what you've had to go through. From my little bit of experience, which has been documented on this thread, I would say cut them off and let them start again. If they have root systems like that, I should think they would come back. You could soon have that whole wall covered again. Good luck with all that work you have to do. It must be so discouraging some days.

Diane

Several years ago my mother prunned hers. I took about a hundres of the clippings to my house about 100 miles away and stuck one about every foot into the dirt to make a hedge. I used no rootone or anything, and in 6 months I had a hedge. Every single one grew. I just kept them moist for about a month until good new growth started. I was on a corner lot and all kinds of peeps would walk right in front of the house, cutting across. That all ended soon.

trois

LOL, Trois, I like your solution!