Winter Pruning of Limes, Hazels & Dogwoods

Posted on January 14, 2023 by johnshortlandwriter

Hard pruning takes courage and gardeners are often reluctant to carry it out for fear of harming or, even worse, killing the plant. Once it is understood that more trees and shrubs are lost through neglect than by pruning the task becomes somewhat easier. In far too many gardens woody plants are grubbed out because they have outgrown their allotted space when judicious pruning at an earlier stage of their life would have allowed them to thrive and give pleasure for many more years.

*Outgrown its space? Don’t remove it, prune it!*

January and February are the perfect months for carrying out coppicing and pollarding and some shrubs like willow and dogwoods, grown for the winter colour of their bark, are actually improved by the process. Coppicing and pollarding are traditional techniques that have been carried out for centuries in woods and forests to provide a plentiful supply of fuel and fencing materials. As with all procedures, jargon evolves and coppicing and pollarding are just words that describe the removal of branches back to the tree trunk (coppicing) or, in the case of pollarding, the removal of stems to ground level. Somehow, if you just say to yourself, “cut off every branch” the mystery of the process disappears and becomes less intimidating.

*Willows – some newly pollarded line a riverbank*

Limes (Tilia) are very beautiful when grown as full-sized trees but become far too large for most gardens. They are better planted as parkland trees in a field, if you are lucky enough to own one, where there stature and grace can be appreciated from a distance. Too often they are grown where their branches overhang driveways where they drop their sticky honeydew over vehicles and become a nuisance. Most limes are host to tens of thousands of aphids (greenfly) which feed on its sap and then secrete the unwanted waste. Somehow, the gardener’s jargon word ‘honeydew’ sounds so much nicer than ‘greenfly crap!’ If you are determined to plant a lime tree in a confined space the Caucasian Lime, Tilia x euchlora which doesn’t have this problem is the one to go for. Remember that any tree in a confined space will need its size controlled so read on to find out how to pollard it.

*Limes, when mature, are beautiful but very large trees*

The time to pollard a tree is winter and January, when there isn’t too much to do gardening-wise, is the perfect month. I always aim to complete by the 31st which allows time to continue into February, if need be. By the middle of that month the sap will be starting to rise within the tree so it is sensible to complete the task by then. It is very straightforward to remove the branches for which you will need secateurs for smaller twigs, loppers for larger ones and a sharp pruning saw for anything bigger still. Which tool to use when? That too is easy to know. Secateurs and loppers should cut through the stems easily – if you need to twist the tool or the stem, you should be using the saw.

*By midsummer there is plenty of new growth on this old willow pollard*

Common sense will tell you that if you remove all branches from a tree there will be nothing left to offer any screening. This isn’t always important and coppiced trees send out new growth very rapidly as the weather warms up. However, for privacy or a different ornamental effect more careful pruning is required. All that needs to be done is to cut back any branch or twig that has grown beyond the space you have allocated for it.

*A pollarded lime allee provides drama and a focal point*

*This lime allee has had its side branches retained to give denser summer screening*

Limes are not often grown for the colour of their winter twigs probably as they are up rather high and so less noticeable. Willows (Salix) (when coppiced, for they can also be pollarded) and dogwoods (Cornus) are very different for their bright yellow, orange or scarlet stems are very visible and a mainstay for any winter garden. They are also quite simple to prune as it is all carried out at ground level. When the plants are mature, I prefer to cut them over a three year period as this retains their overall height. Quite simply, it means that only a third of the stems are removed or, if you have plenty of shrubs, completely prune one in every three to their base. The purpose behind this pruning is not so much to control their size but to maintain the strength of colour which is at its best on younger shoots. If left, they gradually become quite dull.

Hazels are treated very much like willows and dogwoods, although the usual purpose is purely to maintain a convenient size or to provide ‘pea sticks’ to be used for supporting summer plants as well as peas and beans. For guidance take a look at my earlier post from 2021 which can be read by clicking on the link here.

*A hazel tunnel is created by partial coppicing to reduce the number of tall stems*

A Year In Review: 2012 The First Six Months

Posted on December 20, 2012 by johnshortlandwriter

One of the signs of getting older is that the days, weeks, months and years go by ever faster – this seems rather unfair as you are likely to have relatively few ahead of you. Not that I plan to leave this world just yet (well, not if I can help it), it is just that 2012 was the anniversary not just of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee but also of mine which has focussed the mind, rather.

As the time has sped by so fast I thought I would review the year, if only to remind myself what I’ve been doing the past twelve months.

January: To London for the New Year. Whenever we visit ‘The Smoke’ (I wonder if anyone still calls it that now that the days of dense smog have long gone) it always ends up rather ‘foody’. That trip was no exception; we ate our way up the Kings Road, ate our way around Sloane Square and finally ate our way to Fortnum & Mason arriving in time for afternoon tea. Fortnum’s is the most wonderful grocery store on the planet – whereas, most people, especially those from overseas, visit Harrods, Fortnum’s is the one place you really shouldn’t miss. Everything about it is delightful and its afternoon teas are legendry. We did squeeze in a visit to the National Portrait Gallery but why show you images of great works of art when you can see photos of Fortnum’s? Add it to your list of ‘places I must visit before I die’.

February: A visit to Snowdonia staying at a friend’s isolated chapel house on the side of the mountains. The weather was quite kind to us considering the time of year so we were able to do a lot of walking. To our dismay, our favourite spot that we had christened ‘The Enchanted Forest’ because of its lichen encrusted trees and great mossy hummocks had been clear felled and all signs of it destroyed. This may sound like wanton vandalism but the trees had been planted for timber production regardless of the impact they had on the scenery. Now years later, there is a move to restore the mountains back to their original state which is, I’m sure, admirable and an ecologically sound thing to do. The trouble is that we loved this silent, brooding woodland that no-one, it seemed, apart from us ever visited and now it is gone. And with it has gone our desire to return but, who knows, perhaps we shall one day.

March: Recording the life of a hedgerow seemed like agood idea at the time. It was supposed to have become a month by month photographic notebook of the changes that took place during the year but sadly March turned out to be the first and only entry. As April arrived I took more photographs but when it came to blogging them they had disappeared (reappearing months later – one of the mysteries of computer technology). Then came the rain – and it has rained ever since – and the project was abandoned, apart from a vain attempt in May. The hedge, which is in the little lane that leads from our cottage up the hill out of the secret valley, is an ancient relic from the time of the Wychwood Forest, cleared in the very earliest days of British history. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book, that great list of the plunder of William the Conqueror, written in 1086. Although the forest has retreated by many miles there are still some fine trees standing and wild flowers that would normally be found in woodland still grow on its grassy banks. I shall make a resolution to resurrect the project in 2013.

April: Part of my everyday job as a practical gardener is pruning, a subject which is a mystery to many people and often fills them with terror at the very thought of wielding secateurs to a treasured shrub. Mahonia is one of those useful winter flowering plants that so often look dreadful as they become ever more gaunt and ungainly. This was the case with one in a client’s garden so it seemed a good idea to photograph the process of restoration and blog about it. That post has rapidly become my most read and I am glad to be able to report that the plant is thriving. Now covered in new flower buds and almost ready to open, it will welcome the New Year with the scent of lily-of-the-valley. If you have one in your garden, cut a few flowers for a shallow vase to fragrance the house.

May: Despite the rain that seems to have fallen incessantly since April, we had a fine, dry day for the most important day in my social calendar of 2012 which was also an important one for the Queen too. The Pageant of the Horse was held in the grounds of Windsor Castle and celebrated the Queen’s sixty year reign through her association with and love of horses. Horses, riders and other performers representing every country from around the world that the Queen has visited gave us a show that both we and she will never forget. It was a quite remarkable and memorable experience; apart from the showmanship and being so close to the Queen and Prince Philip, we had a private ‘Haka’ from the Cook Islanders when they noticed us still seated after the bulk of other visitors had left. Very exciting!

June: The Jubilee celebrations continued withthe River Pageant held in London on the Thames in pouring rain, this time. A much smaller river, the Coln, featured in a post ‘The Most Beautiful English Village’ about the exquisite Cotswold village of Bibury. With its clear, trout-filled waters fast running past ancient stone cottages, it is hardly surprising that it is protected by the National Trust and much visited by sightseers. It is said that visitors often don’t realise that it is not a living museum and sometimes walk into people’s private gardens or houses to be surprised to find the owners eating their lunch or watching television.

To read any of the posts mentioned above, just click on the links in green. July to December will appear soon.

Pruning Mahonia

Posted on April 17, 2012 by johnshortlandwriter

One of the biggest concerns for many people, even experienced gardeners is how and when to prune. The quicker growing the plant (Wisteria is a good example), or the more spiny it is, the less likely it is to be given the chop – the first is intimidating by size, the latter by pain.

A close relative of that most vicious of shrubs, the Berberis, is Mahonia and the garden cultivars, Charity and Winter Sun, brighten up many a dark corner with their spikes of yellow, lily-of-the-valley scented flowers on a cold winter’s day. There they grow untroubled by pest or disease becoming ever taller, lankier and ending up just plain, downright ugly. All of this can be prevented by pruning with the additional bonus of having flower spikes at nose height.

The Mahonia in the photo below has not been left to grow tall but been given a regular clipping with shears to form a ball shaped shrub: this often happens to plants that have to be kept under control resulting in a garden full of ‘blobby’ shapes. For a Mahonia that, by nature, wants to be upright, this is an especially hideous way to end up. The shrub to the fore is Sarcococca, the Winter Box, also clipped to a ball shape, a style that does suit that particular plant although, in my opinion, it is more attractive when allowed to grow naturally.

By April, the elongated flowerheads (raceme) will have faded to be replaced by bluish berries. This is the sign that pruning time has arrived. Mahonias are very tough, coping with temperatures as low as -20 degrees Centigrade and I have pruned them in frosty weather without loss. It is always best, however, to do any pruning task when the weather is more clement.

The difficulty with seeing inside a shrub that is growing as densely as this particular Mahonia is easily resolved by simply cutting off a few of the top clusters of leaves anywhere. Once you can see what you are doing life is much more straightforward and those first random pruning cuts can be rectified later. In the photo below a branch has been revealed to show how the leaves join the main stem. The newer growth at the top is a much paler green than the darker, older wood but both have leaves growing from it.

The pruning cut can be made anywhere between the leaves – I tend to be quite drastic and only leave one or two leaves in place. It can be seen that I have cut this stem hard back into the older, darker wood – new growth will shoot from this point giving flowers again by the following winter.

Gradually, the shrub opens up to expose many branches of varying ages. The older they are the more gnarled and twisted they have become. Once these are readily visible it is possible to cut some of the oldest growth much harder still: this thins out the plant allowing more light and air to reach its centre.

Although no growth is visible below the cut, dormant buds will break and create new branches. Again, these will flower the following winter but, of course, at a much lower height than before.

The end result is a shrub that has had much of its centre removed or lowered. In this particular example, I have left more of the outer growth in place as this gives a more attractive appearance through the summer. Next Spring this outer growth will be pruned more severely exposing the newer growth inside which can be pruned much more lightly. By the Spring of 2014 this mahonia will have been transormed back to its natural shape, a mass of healthy stems, leaves and flowers.

It was only when I returned to the bonfire that I appreciated the beautiful pale jade tones of the underleaf, not normally noticeable. Another feature of Mahonia is the bright yellow colour of the cut stem – one that it shares with its Berberis cousins and, like them, the root system is also coloured yellow, a useful way of identifying what root system belongs to it when digging in a crowded shrubbery.