Return to the Gardening in the UK Forum
| Post a Follow-Up
Help unknown plant
| | |
Posted by halo2310 Wakefield (My Page) on Fri, Apr 20, 07 at 9:10
| Hi, I am new to gardening. I moved into a new house 2 1/2 yrs ago and there is a beautiful bush under the front window, only gets the sun late afternoon. It's a roundish looking bush with an abundance of beautiful pink flowers (blooming since March). It grows very high and fast so I trimmed it the first year, and since then it has still grown rapidly but has hardly bloomed. I have been told by one gardener that it is a Camellia and another that it is a gardinier. Help!!! Does anyone have any idea what it is, and how do I prune it so it blossoms again. It was absolutely gorgeous the first year and I fear that I have butchered it.
Any advice greatly appreciated. Thanks |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Help unknown plant
| | |
| It will not be a gardenia as they are white and not hardy in the UK. It could be a camellia from the description. If so the reason it has not flowered is that you trimmed it. Camellias need no pruning except to remove any dead bits. The flower buds are formed the year before flowering so by trimming it you cut off next years flowers. Leave it well alone and during the summer you will see fat buds appearing at the ends of the branches. These are next year's flowers. LEAVE THEM ALONE! If it is too big for its sitation it would be better to move it than prune it. Google image camellia and check if that is what you have. |
RE: Help unknown plant
| | |
| My camellia needs pruning or it takes the whole garden over. It can easily grab an extra 4 sq metres a year if not pruned back. However, pruning never stops mine flowering. Maybe it is just small ones that are affected by pruning? Or time of pruning? I prune in march taking all the branches which have no flowers on. Then late April a mass of new shoots emerge from further down the branches and it is these which bear next year's flowers. |
RE: Help unknown plant
| | |
| I think you have hit the nail on the head, rubble. You prune in March just after flowering and giving the plant time to recover and form buds. If you pruned in the autumn, the time many people feel they should be 'tidying up' their garden, you would lose your flowers for next year. I would still maintain that an unpruned camellia is more natural looking if you have the space. |
|
|
|
|
