The National Botanic Garden prune their Perovskia really low. Nice effect

The wisteria is producing no flowers yet, but it’s shape is much better.

The euphorbia is big, and will need to be cut back soon. See what I did last year.

The acer was the plant most affected by the recent high winds. Will it recover this year?

The bay looks much better now I’ve cut quite a bit off the top.

The cistus in F2 has flopped right over, but is flowering well.

I have two yellow flowered brugmansias which have been in these pots for 3 or 4 years. They needed watering at least twice a day last summer. They’ve been kept in the garage since last autumn, and lightly watered occasionally.

The RHS recommended root pruning.

They came out of their (plastic) pots easily, and I sawed off the fine roots around the edges and the bottom. The soil and roots cut off half filled the pot, which was perhaps a bit more severe than I intended. We’ll see what happens

The large pink lacecap in B2 against the E fence was very heavily pruned. The idea is to make it appear to grow up the fence.

‘Bluebird’ got a bit tall last year. Hopefully, I’ve cut it low enough this year.

The white mophead in F3 was unproblematic.

I’ll cut it back harder in future years when it’s a bit stronger

This is grown for the silvery bloom which develops on the stems over winter. The stems from the year before last were brown and uninteresting. I cut everything right back. I’ll try to train it sideways a bit more this year.

Pittosporum ‘Golfball’ at the front

This is a fantastic plant with a very good shape, and lovely dark red stems, but I don’t want it to get too tall and shade the border behind. The idea is to make it lower and let it spread over the gravel.

Pittosporum ‘Golfball’ at the back

This plant is looser, and there’s nothing behind that it’s shading.

Pittosporum ‘Elizabeth’ at the back

Another cracking plant with a more fastigiate form. It was getting too high and shading the Prostanthera behind it. I cut it back to about 50%

There are three plants right at the front. (Actually four, but the closest two are effectively one.) They’re too big and too uniform, although I love their flowers and their toughness.

I’ve tried to treat the three clumps in three different ways.

The one in the middle has been cut to the ground, and some plants from the National Botanic Garden planted around it on 30th March – possibly temporarily.

The other two have been cut back to a better size. The one on the left has also had about a third of the thick old stems cut to the ground.

Ladders adequate, if rather wobbly. I’d rather not rest the top of the ladder against the gutter. This shouldn’t be necessary in the future if I do this cutting back every year. It’s hard to tell which way the stems are growing, so there may be some orphaned stems.

19 May 19

Could this rather bare (of flowers) patch, just where I had the ladder, be due to this late cutting back? Get both clematis monata out of the eaves after they’ve flowered this year.

Flowering well for the second time after being cut right back after the first flowering in Spring