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Pruning Ceanothus in Scotland

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Kostas Kavoussanakis

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Jun 4, 2002, 8:39:59 AM6/4/02
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I bought an evergreen Ceanothus 2 weeks ago. I know I must prune it
lightly (the instructions read "to 20 cm from the stem" which will
leave no leaves at all so I may go lighter) after it flowers. The
question is whether it has flowered. I see no signs of flowers, I see
curled tops but these could be emerging leaves.

Could anybody from up here tell me if theirs has gone through its
flowering period?

Thanks in advance,
Kostas

Philippe Gautier

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Jun 4, 2002, 10:02:09 AM6/4/02
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It also will depend on the variety: I have 2 ceanothus in my garden (in
edinburgh). One has finished flowering at least 3 weeks ago, and the
flowers on the other one are only emerging now...


Philippe

kdupar

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Jun 5, 2002, 1:00:44 AM6/5/02
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>> I bought an evergreen Ceanothus 2 weeks ago. I know I must prune it
>> lightly (the instructions read "to 20 cm from the stem" which will
>> leave no leaves at all so I may go lighter) after it flowers. The
>> question is whether it has flowered. I see no signs of flowers, I see
>> curled tops but these could be emerging leaves.
>>
>> Could anybody from up here tell me if theirs has gone through its
>> flowering period?
>>
>> Thanks in advance,
>> Kostas

Here on the Black Isle our Ceanothus thyrsiflorus var. repens are in
full bloom now, and in a neighbouring garden, a more upright variety is
looking quite spectacular. We have about 8-10 of them in various parts
of the garden, including six along a narrow bed between our front
courtyard and the road. On the 'bottom' side of the gate, they grow
profusely and need to be cut back each spring. On the 'top' side, they
almost always get nipped by late frosts. In more sheltered parts of the
garden we just leave them to get on with life, and only give them a
trim if they threaten to overwhelm neighbouring plants.

Kristina
www.black-isle.info/orchard

Ian Wolfe

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Jun 4, 2002, 2:13:22 PM6/4/02
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In message <Pine.GSO.4.44.02060...@granite.epcc.ed.ac.uk>
Kostas Kavoussanakis <kavo...@epcc.ed.ac.uk> wrote:

<Snip>

> Could anybody from up here tell me if theirs has gone through its
> flowering period?

Mine (Blue Cushion) has just started flowering. When it's finished, it'll get
hacked back quite a bit.

--
Ian Wolfe.
Linlithgow. Birthplace of Mary, Queen of Scots.
Scottish Junior Cup Holders 2002-3
Blessed are the peacemakers.

Kostas Kavoussanakis

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Jun 5, 2002, 4:53:55 AM6/5/02
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On Tue, 4 Jun 2002, Sacha wrote:

> On Tue, 4 Jun 2002 13:39:59 +0100, Kostas Kavoussanakis
> <kavo...@epcc.ed.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> >Could anybody from up here tell me if theirs has gone through its
> >flowering period?
> >

> Sounds as if yours hasn't flowered yet, Kostas. Those curled tops
> sound like the flower buds to me.

OK, I will let it be for now then. In fact I may let it be for good
this year, as late pruning does not work well with then (according to
old URG threads).

> But does it really need pruning
> yet, if you've only just bought it?

It says so on the instructions. It promotes vigour and flowering for
subsequent years (they say).

Thanks for this and all the other answers.

Kostas

Kostas Kavoussanakis

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Jun 5, 2002, 8:41:15 AM6/5/02
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On Wed, 5 Jun 2002, Sacha wrote:

> Well, I'd be a bit leery of those instructions if I were you. To be
> safe, I just checked them with Ray.

Many thanks for this.

> to be vigorous. Ray's suggestion is that you leave it alone until
> it's *almost* the size you want and then just tip prune it to give new
> shoots.

OK, I will put the secateurs away :-)

Kostas


Cyril

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Jun 5, 2002, 11:11:35 AM6/5/02
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"Sacha" <sa...@nospamgarden506.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:
> >
> >Could anybody from up here tell me if theirs has gone through its
> >flowering period?
The flowers on ours are just dying off (in England) - I would have thought
yours would be flowering by now, so if not then they've still to come.

> >
> Sounds as if yours hasn't flowered yet, Kostas. Those curled tops
> sound like the flower buds to me. But does it really need pruning
> yet, if you've only just bought it? BTW, not that I'm encouraging you
> to do this but I spoke to someone the other day about Ceanothus only
> tolerating light pruning and she showed me hers which she hacks back
> with great vigour every year, if only to ensure she can still the
> garden path!
>
Ours certainly survived a severe hacking a few years ago - I had to replace
the panel fence behind it and had to not only remove a lot of branches but
even cut part of the main "trunk" out lengthways, to allow me to put the new
fence in where the plant had grown too far in that direction. I expected it
to die, but the next year it wa as good as ever. So they don't seem all that
delicate!

However I agree with others that pruning it now, when you've only just got
it, seems a bit unnecessary.

Cyril

Barb

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Jun 5, 2002, 11:35:54 AM6/5/02
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"Kostas Kavoussanakis" <kavo...@epcc.ed.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:Pine.GSO.4.44.02060...@granite.epcc.ed.ac.uk...

Hi kostas, I'm in South East Northumberland, similar weather to south east
Scotland, if that's any help!
Which Ceanothus is it? I have Puget Blue - flowered April to may, and
Skylark, which is getting set to flower in the next few weeks. I haven't
pruned mine at all, and am not planning to until they begin to outgrow their
space, and then they can be clipped to control their size.

Barb
xxxx


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