Re: The over enthusiastic gardener

Hi Alison

Pamela gave you a good roundup.  I'd just add a few  comments,  
• Prune flowering plants only just after they flower.   Know which ones flower on new wood and which flower on old wood.  Adjust your pruning practices accordingly.
• I deadhead Phlomis fruticosa but prune only if it gets too leggy, something I've seen happen if it is planted in too much shade.  Sun grown P. fruticosa tends to make a nice, full mound that I've never found a need to prune.
• Plectranthus argenteus I also deadhead but prune only if it outgrows its spot. It tends to reach and sprawl so you can cut it back or not.   I don't find that it requires pruning but is a very forgiving plant if you do prune it.. 
• Polygala dalmasiana in my garden requires no pruning unless a branch happens to die for some reason.  It blooms nearly year-round and I just let it achieve its own, rounded shape.
• Santolina does do better if it is cut back by, say a third, after blooming.  but you'd be cutting off dead flowers at that time anyway, so it isn't a big deal.  I personally despise the fragrance but some people love it.

I tend to be more hands-off than prune-happy.  Duranta, for example, gets pruned only if I am trying to give it a particular shape.  Otherwise, I just break off the spent berry stalks after the berries fall, prune off any wayward or dead branches and leave it to its own shape.  That also means that I plant it where it has enough room to achieve its own shape.

Let's see what other folks have to say.

Nan

 
On Jan 31, 2009, at 11:35 AM, Alison Richards wrote:


 
From: a*@hotmail.com
To: o*@ucdavis.edu
Subject: The over enthusiastic gardener
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2009 16:46:55 +0000

Dear Medit gardeners,
 
I have an unusual problem, our new gardener who has the sunniest nature you could hope to find is doing too much work.
My garden is in Sicily 37.5 N12.5 E, but I live in London, so till March of last year, I had the familiar difficulty of the non resident Medit gardener, that when you leave, everything is 
looking fine, but by the time you return, it has reverted to jungle.
 
Since March 2008, Guiseppe has been working like a beaver, and the place looks beautifully kempt on our arrival. However this time my plant garden, which was looking tidy enough in November has been cut back to within an inch of it's collective life now in January.
 
When maintenance was largely dictated by how often I could be in Sicily, a regime of cutting back and cleaning up in September, followed by another tidy up in January/February
seemed to work well enough.
 
I would love to know what your mediterranean maintenance regimes are, 
and the reasons you do what you do when you do it.
 
I should add that Guiseppe's experience is with citrus and olives, not horticulture.
 
with best wishes
 
Alison
 
The plant list includes;
 
Aeoniums various
Artemesia ?caucasica
Carissa macrocarpa
Cistus various
Duranta repens
Echium candicans
Euphorbia ?characias
Lavander dentata
Gaura lindheimeri
Murrayia paniculata
Phlomi fruticosa
plectranthus argentatus
Pittosporum tenuifolium
Perovskia
Polygala dalmaisiana
Salvia officinalis
Santolina 
 
Alison Richards
 

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