Recently, with access to few hours of youthful energy, I pursued my gardening priorities. They were a bit early in the dormant season but too productive to postpone. Here’s a short list to encourage improvements in your own garden for the spring.
An Overgrown Shrub
A Glossy Abelia (Abelia ‘Edward Goucher’) had grown to seven feet, with long gracefully looping branches. It was an attractive, well-placed shrub that was crowding smaller plants. I had it coppiced, i.e., cut to the ground, to promote re-growth in the spring. This severe pruning method renews trees, particularly oak, hazel, ash, willow, field maple and sweet chestnut. It also works well with multi-trunked shrubs.
Plants in the Wrong Places
The Giant White Squill (Urginea maritime), notable for a huge bulb, is common in the Mediterranean basin but rarely seen in the Monterey Bay area. It is easy to grow, and can be moved at almost any time. Years ago, I planted a four-inch bulb where I later decided to reserve for California Natives, so I wanted to move it to the Mediterranean area. The bulb, which had grown to about ten inches in diameter, was easy to transplant.
Another wrongly placed plant was a Twinberry Honeysuckle (Lonicera involucrata var. ledebourii), a California native. It had grown to about four by four feet, but in a place I later designated as the South Africa area, so it had to be moved. I learned that it too could be coppiced, so we cut it to six inches high and replanted it in the California Natives area. It could grow up to 10-to-12 feet high, so we placed it toward the back of a bed.
An Unruly Shrub
Wagner’s Sage (Salvia wagneriana) produces my favorite salvia blossom. The pink and white form has white bracts surrounding hot pink flowers, for a unique presentation. My plant grew rampantly to six feet high and ten feet wide. I had placed it in partial shade, where it thrived but didn’t flower very well. I also had failed to prune to maintain a smaller, denser form, so it had become rangy. Fortunately, it had also produced several seedlings. The solution was to shovel-prune the original shrub, transplant a couple seedlings to a sunnier spot for more blossoms, and schedule regular, late summer pruning for a more compact size.
Unwanted Shrubs
I have nothing against the Bigleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla), but I needed to move three of these Chinese or Japanese native plants to make room for the Twinberry Honeysuckle and other California natives. Lacking a good place for them, I coppiced and moved them into large nursery pots, for gifting to another gardener.
Consider seasonal improvements for your garden.
More
The Giant White Squill’s large bulb is proportionate to its leaves and its stalk of many florets (blooming in August). The bloom stalk can reach five feet in height.
The Glossy Abelia responds well to severe pruning during the dormant season. The first photo shows the result of coppicing a Glossy Abelia that had grown to seven or eight feet in height. The following photo shows the renewed growth of another Glossy Abelia that had reached a similar height, about six months after coppicing.
