My husband gave me a new pair of pruners for Christmas and I almost immediately put them to work on one project after another (mostly) between rainstorms. I took my pruning of the three Agonis flexuosa 'Nana' on the south side of the house a bit further than I'd planned.
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| I started this pruning project when it was raining - and remembered to take this "before" shot after I'd already begun hacking away at the shrub on the left. These shrubs are very twiggy and had a lot of dead material in the middle. |
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| This is the "after" shot. I filled 2 green waste bins with the pruned material and the 3-inch pile of dried leaves I swept up from the surrounding area. As these shrubs have a minor problem with what I think are thrips, I elected not to put the dead leaves in my compost bin. |
I've pruned these shrubs once before, in January 2020, and I was afraid I'd taken it too far on that occasion but they sprang back quickly and I'm counting on them following suit this time.
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| The photo on the left was taken in January 2020 after I finished pruning. The photo on the right was taken less than 3 months later in April 2020. |
While working on the south side of the house, I cut back the sweet autumn clematis (Clematis terniflora) and the smoke bush (Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple). I also gave the Coprosma repens 'Plum Hussey' a minor cleanup.
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| These are 2 views of the same Coprosma after I'd trimmed the dead stems that had been hidden by the overgrown Agonis 'Nana' shrubs. It looks very leggy now but I've learned from experience that Coprosma doesn't generally come back when you cut into bare wood. I might replace it but then, if I wait awhile, the Agonis foliage will cover up its bare legs again. |
I'd planned to hold off on pruning Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder' until it "bloomed" but it was pretty clear to me that the shrub on the north end of the house wasn't going to do that so I went ahead.
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| This was what the Leucadendron looked like after a gardener went after it with an electric hedge trimmer |
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| I cleaned out a lot of dead material from the earlier hedge trimming episode in the process of taking down the shrub's overall height and softening its square edges. While I'll miss the daisy-like "flowers" this shrub produces in winter, I hope it'll be looking like itself again by July when it usually sports its new red foliage. |
I've worked on the most difficult project, pruning the two Leptospermum 'Copper Glow' at the front of the house, in stages. I took yet another whack at it yesterday.
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| This is the "before" shot taken just after Christmas |
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| I cut both Leptospermum shrubs back prior to year-end but, even though I filled 2 green waste bins with pruned stems, I'm not sure the difference would have been evident to the casual viewer. This photo was taken yesterday after I went at the shrub on the left a second time. |
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| The difference is somewhat more obvious in this comparison between the photo of the left shrub in late December and yesterday. I plan to take another run at the shrub on the right side of the front path later this week. Next year, I think I'll put both shrubs on the list for the professional tree trimmers to handle. |
I already have my next pruning project lined up.
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| This is Leucadendron salignum 'Chief'. It's "flowering" now so I'm going to leave it alone until it's done. The bees seem to like the flower-like bracts. |
In the interim, I plan to work on some projects that are more fun, like planting empty areas once the soil dries out a bit. Meanwhile, my husband's working on a project of his own.
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| The repairs to the roof and chimney after storm #7 and prior to the arrival of storms #8 and #9 were only partially successful. We believe that chinks in the mortar between the stones in the 72 year old chimney are the real problem. My husband put up this tarp in the middle of storm #8 with me pacing below holding my phone to call 911 if he fell. He agreed to get a professional to handle the rest of the patching, yet he was back up on roof working on that himself yesterday. |
What about you? Have you got any post-holiday projects in the works?
All material © 2012-2023by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party