Pruning is like Pringles
Once you pop you can’t stop! Or at least I can’t. “I’ll be in in a sec!”, I call. “Just want to grab that dead leaf that’s been bugging me”. Next minute, six other bushes are looking decidedly smaller, I have a knee-high pile of garden waste, and a somewhat exasperated husband (who expected no less of me, but is ever hopeful).
Maybe it’s the spring cleaning bug (ok so technically August is not quite spring, but in Brisbane, the bulbs are blooming and the the shoots are shooting so it pretty much counts), but all of a sudden it hits me. I go for so long enjoying the winter blooms (roses, winter flowering salvias, marigolds, chrysanthemums) and being restrained in chopping back anything, because things grow slower and it’s harder to cultivate that overgrown wilderness I so dearly love. One day I’m telling myself that I can get a little bit longer out of those nearly spent flowers and the next, BAM! - “Off with their heads!” I cry. And it’s all cut back to the ground.
Salvia involucrata "Joan" in it's hey day well before the chop. These flower all winter long but eventually... it's time to go!
And then every year I think “Oh! So bare! What have I done!?” (often followed by “Oh! I forgot that was under there…”). But I think as gardeners we crave that change and the following anticipation. Because that’s kind of a constant in gardening. A garden is never stagnant and there is always hopefulness for the next thing. So I eagerly await the lush spring growth (and probably aphids) followed by summer rampancy (and likely crispy leaves or fungal problems, depending on the rain levels).
Embrace the change! Now is the time for a garden clear out - while the weather is gorgeous and the tiny buds show us where to cut back to. There are so many exciting things to notice when you bury yourself back in the garden. I do believe I have a spectacular Fraser Island creeper display forthcoming and I see the rice flowers waiting to pop. Get out there and see what you’ve got!
The buds on my Fraser Island creeper! They flower on old growth and it's going to be SPECTACULAR this year!