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Post by debbiem on Feb 20, 2007 22:02:21 GMT 1
Advice from Crocus on pruning Lavatera is to cut back to about 12 inches from ground level in Spring. For us this means cutting into the woody stems and losing all the foliage altogether!!!  Has anyone done this as we are worried that if we do this and cut it that far down it won't grow back.......the advice is for Olbia Rosea and Barnsley, which we have one each of. I know Crocus know their stuff but we've cut down Lavatera drastically before with disastrous results.  Can anyone help? |
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Post by 4pygmies on Feb 20, 2007 22:18:06 GMT 1
The only times I've cut back that hard into Lavatera the plants have always died. Now I just give it a much lighter prune and it's fine. On the other hand my sister is brutal with hers and they always recover! I think it might depend on the age of your plants and whether you've trimmed them back that hard before. I dunno really......  |
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Post by sweetleaf on Feb 20, 2007 22:26:32 GMT 1
It depends of course whether it wants to be a tree really you cant cut it back to just a trunk its obviously going to die........ ;D Saying that Ive done that specifically to get rid of it, recently and it grew back to spite me.  But it looks rubbish so Im digging it out. |
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Post by 4pygmies on Feb 20, 2007 22:45:13 GMT 1
I love Lavateras - some gardening magazines are quite snitty about them. I don't understand why - they are gorgeous in full bloom. I always fancied a whole hedge of them somewhere but they kept dying on me! My friend P has a row of them - totally neglected and overgrown but really full of flowers all summer - how annoying is that??
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Post by sweetleaf on Feb 20, 2007 22:51:10 GMT 1
Mine was taking over It had to go, it was much too big for the garden and grows like a weed, every time I cut it back it tripled in a season.I can have flowers and space without it! If you stick a piece of lavatera in the ground the right way up it grows, here, same with Buddleia, It constantly amazes me how different the conditions are in other peoples gardens..  |
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Post by debbiem on Feb 21, 2007 9:03:06 GMT 1
Thanks everyone. Must admit I'm a Lavatera lover for its blooms going on and on but the Olbia Rosea is only a year old and is sprawling all over the place - wonderful if we still had a big garden but not so excellent now in this smaller one. Don't want to kill it though, just stop it from rambling so much and then falling overlike it has done. We've also got a Barnsley, a Burgundy Glow and a Lilac Lady, which is very sedate compared to the others! So just in case I kill it by too much hacking I'll just give it a lighter prune. Thanks again! Debbie |
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But it looks rubbish so Im digging it out.