Pruning, Containers and Guerillas

Pruning Mission Accomplished

Last weekend, Miss A stopped by our lot to help me with some pruning. After doing the research on butterfly bushes, I took a crack at trimming ours by myself. I think it turned out okay. Here are some “before” and “after” shots.

However, when it came to pruning the dappled willow and a few other multi-stem shrubs, I called Miss A. She has much more experience under her belt with gardening than I do. She patiently walked me through the process, answering my constant questions. Even my cringes when the little handsaw came out were politely tolerated.

Here’s what I learned.

• Keep up on your pruning! Growth neglected last year gave us some difficulty this year. Plus, constant upkeep gives more control over the shaping of the tree or shrub.
• Remove older canes near the base. This was important on the dappled willow since the new canes are usually the shoots that have the prettier, dappled leaves and red bark. In most instances, removing the older canes will lower the overall height of the shrub. Plus, it will thin out the interior of the shrub, allowing more light in and encouraging new growth.
• Afterward, we inspected how the branches of the shrub were growing. In some areas, the branches had crossed. This leads to the branches rubbing together, opening wounds and possibly introducing disease to the shrub. So, I had a few hard choices to make about which branches would stay and which branches would go.
• The next step allows more fine-tuning of the shrubs height and shape. Miss A and I clipped off any winter damage we found and any longer branches seeming out of place. She said this is also the point we could lower the shrub further in height if desired.
• Overall, when pruning a shrub, be sure the cuts are at an angle. The cut should be made between the length of the branch to be removed and the “collar” area where the branch meets the shrub. This area will allow for the cut to properly heal.

Bulbs Sprouting Indoors

Remember the bulbs I had forgotten about and tossed in some containers? Here’s an update.

Three of the five containers have healthy bulbs growing in them. As my better half commented of the other two, “if these haven’t shown activity yet, I’m not sure we’ll be seeing anything from them.” I think I may be leaning toward agreeing with him, though I think I’ll give the containers a bit more time. After all, I’m not in need of the pots right now anyway.

Notes for This Fall

This picture is from Miss A’s cottage garden. My better half expressed genuine affection toward these little guys. Note to self: order snowdrops for next spring.

Guerilla What?!

This is just fantastic. I’ll be looking around on the community boards to see if there is a chapter near us.

Crocus-time Continues
Hoorah! We also have purple AND white in the sidewalk bed.

Butterfly Bush

Ugh. What a week. Mother Nature continuously mocked us. "Oh, you want some spring weather? Well, here’s a 45 degree day. What, what’s that? You have a problem with no sun and torrential downpours? Fine! I’m going to take all that water and freeze it!!! Now it’s 20 degrees again. How do you like crunchy, muddy grass? Ha!” 

You get the point. 

Tonight I looked up some info on butterfly bushes. We have two toward the back of the lot, each holding up their corner of fence and garage. My friend trimmed them both way back shortly after we moved in last spring. The bushes sprang back over the season, producing pretty, pale purple spear-like flowers. The bees and a handful of butterflies enjoyed the plants.

From what I gather through browsing, the butterfly bush (Buddleia) actually came from China where it’s referred to as “summer lilac.” It blooms from midsummer through September. Each March, the plant should be drastically trimmed back to about 12" above the ground. Any dead branches can be removed, along with branches shooting out at odd angles or tangling with others. Deadheading throughout the season will promote new blooms. I read on one site that butterfly bushes do not drop their old blooms. I’ll have to watch for that this season.

Sometime mid-season last year, our two butterfly bushes began to wither a bit. Since the plants are supposed to be fairly drought resistant, I think the odd behavior was a result of pests. I found this recipe for a simple soap spray to apply to the undersides of the leaves:

• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp dish soap
• 1 quart water

The creator of this mix sites the only drawback being extreme sun plus oil and water droplets causes sunburn on the leaves. She recommends spraying in later afternoon or twilight. Oh, and watch out for the bees and ladybugs! Those are the good guys.

Finally, here’s a bonus of tonight’s homework. I found a fellow Michigan gardener! I would like to hunt down and explore more gardening blogs this weekend, hopefully selecting a few to follow on a regular basis. I’m so new to this hobby, any type of guidance would be a plus.