Do yall know how to trim a Japanese boxwood? I have a purple sage also? Would yall have pictures to show me on where to begin?
How to trim shrubs?
I'm by no means an expert, but a good rule of thumb is never trim shrubs back by more than 1/3. On the boxwoods, if they just need a "hair cut" to shape them, you won't have a problem. If they're needing more than a few inches taken off, go carefully because they will sometimes be "nekkid" in the middle and when you take the top off, all you see are little bare brown stems with no leaves for a long time. My neighbor has a formal edging of Japanese boxwoods and they trim the new growth on them periodically throughout the growing season to keep them in little cube shapes, flat on the top and the sides.
listen to crowellli. I went crazy and trimmed mine by 1/2, they're hideous-looking right now. I'm not even sure if they will recover and they are in the front landscape. I messed up bad and all I can do now is wait and hope for the best.
Vossner, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if yours got whacked back by half and the middles are naked, you may have to replace them. I did this once and after a year the middles were still "nekkid", so I pulled 'em out. They might have eventually recovered, but I figured if after a year there still looked that bad, I was tired of waiting on them. Are yours showing any signs of new growth in the bare spots?
oh yeah they're budding everywhere but still, it's gonna be til next spring for sure. Right now there is enough green on them that it's not noticeable from afar, but it was definitely a HUGE mistake.
By purple sage, do you mean texas ranger, silverleaf, white sage, ash bush, sensia (Leucophyllum frutescens)? If so, I will five you some pruning tips after you answer. I messed one up so bad one year that I had to remove it.
vossner, with the cool weather and rains there is hope that your boxwood may recover more quickly than you think.
Here are 2 helpful pruning information resources:
http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:lzwek2ZaWL8J:www.ci.austin.tx.us/watershed/downloads/perennials.xls+Justicia+brandegeana+%2Bprune&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=9&gl=us
http://ag.arizona.edu./pubs/garden/mg/pruning/index.html
This message was edited May 25, 2007 10:21 PM
I have the Texas sage compacta.