Garden Photos of '09......#5

add to your list woodpeckers, nuthatch, and juncos and that is what is in my feeders everyday costing me lost to keep them all happy

Love the first two, Sherrie - preferably together.

hehehehe

LOL

only the first two?

Dagnabbit!!!! TWO beautiful hawks just were perched in my Oaks, but, of course, just as I turn on the camera they flew off!

One beautifully had a mouse or mole in its beak!

I love nature!

You have a goulish side Willi
Anyone know when its OK to cut back Buddleah

Muh-ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!!

Though I am not expert, I would say "Cut it back now"

Mine usually dies back to almost the ground anyway.

Anytime between now and the beginning of new growth.

Thanks guys.Its50* and the sun is out.
Thats as good as its going to get for a few more weeks.
I'll do it now.

lol....... you guys are funny!

Thanks all.

Jan.... I think that the grass is Carex phyllocephala 'Sparkler'

Bill, I'm glad that you reconsidered! I think that you'll be happy with them.

Scicci.... I agree. I'm jealous of the green houses too!

Patti. Lovely picture! I think your deer are lucky to be alive. That's very nice of you.

Jan... sorry, I ment to get back to your dmail last night and fell asleep :-/ I'll get to my mail tonight. But, wind, wind, oh wind.....blowing the snow sideways! It was howling up the canyon to the extend that it muffled the train. I really thought that i'd loose power, but so far so good!!! Started at about three this morning and quit at about 7. The snow was mostly melted by the the time I even thought about going outside to take a picture or two. that's the way I like it!!

just finished washing all of my 2.5 inch pots for my babies to move into lol 28 times 5 man that took like forever and washed the trays that go with them it is good since its a self watering system so I poor and it runs all the way around to water all the plants evenly

over 50 in Feb .... now is the time GE... I hack mine down to about 2 inches from the ground

Thanks, redchic.
Now, JoAnn, now. BTW, how' s the kitchen coming along?

No need to sound the panic alarm on the BB cutback! I have done it as late as mid-April with new growth already sprouting and it doesn't make a difference.

2 inches?
Guess I'll go at it again if it's not raining.
This is "Honeycomb" and very vigerous.
The other one is smaller and purple I dont know if it was small because it was small or the variety isnt as big.
Honeycomb came from Forest Farm and the purple came from local Oriental Garden supply.
Thanks Jan! we are on hold for the week until counter tops are put in on Monday.
NO sink
NO cooktop
I am really weary of this.
Indrawer spice racks are delivered today so I can fill the racks and make room at the diningroom table.
Believe me everyone will know when we finish. The cheering will be heard from here.

I can't wait to hear the cheering Jo Ann. throw a party in the new kitchen. Your purple one should grow up to and surpass your yellow buddlea when it is happy. Unless, it's the smallish growing one that I can't think of the name of right now. It's pretty hard to find that one.

I'll go to the Oriental G website to see if it's there.
He is pretty casual about every aspect of his business.
X -Zen Center habituee. He doesnt get rattled,his website hasnt been changed since 2007.

he sounds like an interesting character.

I checked his 2007 list and couldnt find it so I went to Forstfrm and think it was "Purple prince"
I'm just not sure,doesnt really matter as its planted and I'm not digging anything unless its to plant the hundreds of plants comming in April.
Its planted on the border about 5 feet from the Buddleah Honeycomb.

you don't have to cut it back that low Ge.... just my preference to keep it smaller and compact

Just started raining and buddleah and Spireah are trimmed.
I had wanted to get more raking done but maybe this afternoon.

Ge1836, You are good to get it done. I have one Buddleja that tends to block a major walk by mid summer and just before it blooms, I end up cutting back some of those branches that are about to open and they just seem to put out new buds and bloom later on that side. Those buds may be a bit smaller when in bloom. I have tried to force those blooms on the cut branches, but not too successful.

Here is a collage of the live cycle last summer from not cut back on April 8th, to pruned on April 28th to more than half its fall size. I would say from 10 to 12 feet to 4 feet or about level to the back of the dog in that picture. This year I took a lot out of it in the early winter, but will prune it hard again in early May. I don't think it cares. The others in the yard got a big trimming last Oct and I will not touch them again, except to dead head them. I innocently planted this one years ago, not knowing it would get so big. I don't know which one it is. I call it the backdoor buddleja. It has never self seeded. Patti

That's a nice on, Patti. The amount that you cut it back before it grows - down to the ground or to a two feet, or whatever - does not affect the full size it will reach, assuming it is mature.

Edited to add that it must be trimmed later, as Patti does, to keep it smaller.

This message was edited Feb 27, 2009 8:57 AM

by cutting mine back hard it stays around 6 foot... at that height I can still deadhead it

And if not, it gets bigger, Allison?? I have done all kinds of 'experiments' with cutting back mine and never saw that to be the case.

Victor, how does that work. If I cut that buddleja to the ground this year would it still get to 10' this year? I know it would come up, but how much? Is it a good way to reinvigorate it? Not that it needs it.

A couple of years ago I did cut some ugly Viburnums (indigenous ones) to the ground with my brush cutter. I was trying to prune them with my Felco's into something respectable but failing that, I just whacked them to the ground. Now I am letting them come back on their own. They are coming back. I need to go to pruning school.

Yes - if it's reached its maturity and you cut it way back (as I do with mine), it will reach its full height this year, assuming there are no growing issues - weather, disease, stress, etc.

Remember, in nature no one cuts these back. Mew wood will grow from the old wood. In cold places, if it were not cut back, new wood would (hee hee) ggrow from the base. It will look like crap, but it will still grow and flower.

Last year - for the first time - I did not cut back my spirea japonica at all. They are mature - over ten years old. They did not get noticeably bigger and leafed out and flowered as normal.

When do you prune them? Pruning school is a must.

I've read somewhere that in some colder areas Buddleja will actually winter kill back to the ground and fully regrow.

Though, I have no personal experience in that, or what "fully" regrow actually means height-wise.

I cut mine down to about 8 inches every fall they look better and more uniform the next year and bloom better

I prune mine in late winter / early spring. They do look much nicer if cut back hard. Who wants to see the dead branches from last year? But they don't HAVE to be cut back hard. Many people think that all plants that bloom on new wood MUST be cut back hard. Not true. They will grow from the point of last live wood.

The reason I cut mine way down - to inches - is for aesthetics. If I cut it to three feet instead, those bottom three feet will be ugly with old dead wood. But new growth would come from the base anyway.

With clematis, it's a bit different. You can grow a group 3 (new wood - normally cut back to the ground each year) that is supposed to grow say, 8 feet, higher by not cutting it back. Once mature, it will still grow higher because it will grow from where it 'left off' the previous year. This is how you can grow one up a tree. The old wood is still alive (unlike BB's in cold climates) and serves as the starting point. It's like an 'elevated ground'.

to tell you the truth... I never not cut down.. don't know if it would be a monster if I didn't ... and it's a NOID... when I bought it ... the tag said pink butterfly bush

Now you get into clemantis - I have been watching that forum ALL Winter! In other words I want BB and Clemantis!

I dont want to have to prune, deadhead, relocate etc etc. The older you get, the tougher it gets. Guess I will have to hire Edward Scissorhand.

I'm a lazy gardener and don't like to deadhead either.

how is this for enabling????