henless' garden, 2018

[thistlebloom]

Of course, while he was in slaughter mode, he waked my blue Butterfly bush to the ground. A few stems were left, so maybe it will come back.

Oh dear.... I hope it comes back, and if it is well established it should. We cut butterfly bushes down to 12 inches every late winter/early spring and they come back just fine.

At any rate, don't feel like the Lone Ranger Henless. My husband thought he was doing me a favor by cutting scrub brush down one spring and he got all of my lilacs. One had a trunk as big around as your arm. Last fall he cut my witch hazel to the ground. Maybe I just have too many plants...

 

[flowerbug]

i once received a letter at college with the following "I cut back the grapes and the roses" arg! it took me several years to get the grapes from young vines trained a certain way to fill the dog pen fence. all that work undone. took me a few more years to get them back in shape. just in time to sell the house.

lilacs will regrow, butterfly bush likely will be ok too.

 

[thistlebloom]

lilacs will regrow, butterfly bush likely will be ok too.

Yeah, they do, but they had finally grown big enough to screen the road. He was very mad at himself, but I told him it was just a rejuvenating pruning. No worries.

 

[henless]

Thanks for the encouragement everyone. I have since marked the spot with one of his little orange flagd. I already had several around a plant I got from my best friends. It's a small yellow sunflower looking plant that grows/spreads like crazy. I don't think it's sunchokes. no tubers just roots.

 

[thistlebloom]

It's a small yellow sunflower looking plant that grows/spreads like crazy. I don't think it's sunchokes. no tubers just roots.

Ooooh, maybe a Maximiilian perennial sunflower?
I love love love that one.

 

[Nyboy]

I once had a lawn man who looked like a Greek god but mowed like Helen Keller. I over looked many mowed down shrubs, but when he took out a 4 foot dogwood I had to let him go

 

[baymule]

Henless does it look like this? I have these wild sunflowers growing in my garden. They seed and spread everywhere. I just pull up about a thousand of them and let the rest bloom and look pretty all summer.

 

[flowerbug]

Yeah, they do, but they had finally grown big enough to screen the road. He was very mad at himself, but I told him it was just a rejuvenating pruning. No worries.

hahaha... i've always heard to cut back 1/3 each season to give the plant a chance to send up sprouts. the lilac here is back in the NE corner and i'm so allergic to them that i don't dare to touch it without hazmat level cover. love 'em. they hate me. it needs some cutting back, but not too likely i will do it...

 

[thistlebloom]

You only need to cut them if you want to limit the girth of the growth. They will eventually form a biggish grove of trunks. I'm sure you already knew that.
Mine are multiplying, and they bloom, but they are really in too much shade to do their best.

 

[flowerbug]

You only need to cut them if you want to limit the girth of the growth. They will eventually form a biggish grove of trunks. I'm sure you already knew that.
Mine are multiplying, and they bloom, but they are really in too much shade to do their best.

i've seen some pretty large groves of them. ours gets mostly full sun now after i cut back the surrounding honey suckle bushes and it's grown quite a bit since then. it bloomed nicely last year. not sure what is going to happen this season.