When NOT to attempt to prune your corkscrew Willow

 Curly or Corkscrew Willow - Salix babylonica, or Salix matsudana, anything with the cultivar name “Tortuosa” - is a delightful, beautiful, ornamental tree: fast growing, but not long-lived:

 .. and generally speaking, they don't need to be pruned - Unlike curly Hazel, it's not particularly important to keep checking the base for non-curly shoots, as these curly Willows are not grafted, which means that they never throw up long straight “reverted” shoots, in the way that curly Hazel do.

They don't need much attention, as they mostly have a fairly upright growth habit, so they don't spread too much, and they are usually problem-free... until they get a bit too big....

 

 

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Scorched grass and hosepipe bans: the silver lining

“What?!” I hear you cry, incredulously: “How you can you find a silver lining in that? My grass looks like the Serengeti (before the rains, obviously), there is a hosepipe ban in place with no end date on it, everything is dreadful!”

OK, I'll grant you that most people are tearing their hair out, at the condition of their grass: but things are not as bad as you might think, because grass is incredibly resilient, and all it will take is a week or so of wet weather - and remember, kiddies, we are in the UK, wet weather won't be far away - and it will green up again.

Remember when it all looked like this?

 

(Sighs of happiness from all around)

In fact, if grass were to be invented now, it would be hailed as a Wonder Ground-Cover: it grows fast, but manageably: all it needs is to have the mower run over it once a week and it looks perfect: it can withstand foot traffic, garden furniture, and barbecues: it's cool to walk on, on a hot day (until it becomes the scorched Serengeti of course, but hey, still better than tarmac or concrete!): if it gets neglected for a few weeks, all you have to do is chop it down again and get back to regular cutting, and in no time it's perfect again: it's a soothing colour to look at (it's not a coincidence that the main ecology action group are called “green” peace) and of course, it is very drought resilient - even though it currently looks like nothing on earth, it will recover without us having to do anything extra to it.

Miraculous!

So, I hear you ask, somewhat sceptically, what's this silver lining, then?

 

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Rose Dieback: what is it, really?

 

Ah, a phrase to strike terror into the heart of most gardeners, especially those of us who were originally RHS trained: rose dieback.

It occurs when roses are badly pruned, and it can be very detrimental to the plant: and when I say “pruned” that also includes “dead headed”, so it's worth knowing about it now, in the middle of summer, when deadheading is a regular occurrence.

So, what do we know about deadheading roses?

When a blossom, or spray of blossoms, has finished, it needs to be removed, otherwise the plant will waste energy making seeds (hips/haws) instead of sending up more flower buds.

An exception to this “rule” would be Rosa glauca:

 .. which we leave, because it produces rather nice shapely hips - or haws, still not sure of the difference - later in the year: plus it only flowers once anyway, so we might just as well leave them.

Otherwise, it's off with their heads!

And most people - well, most/all gardeners, not so many Clients - already know about making a sloping cut, just above an outward facing bud:

 

 

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Salix Kilmarnock: knowing when to call it a day

Now, anyone who follows me for any length of time, or who has spent any time flipping through my archive blog will know that I often write about a particular grafted ornamental weeping tree, generally known just as Salix 'Kilmarnock'. They come in a range of sizes, from tiny little things less than a yard high (1m) which I think look ridiculous, but that's just my opinion - right up to hefty great things whose canopy might be maybe 10' high: but the usual size is about breast or head height, and the whole point of these trees is that they don't get any taller. They just get denser.

This is what they are supposed to look like - this was taken in February, so the weeping branches are bare of leaves, and you can just see the beginnings of catkins, and daffodils:

 

Today I received an email from Mandy, who says

“I cut down my Kilmarnock willow mainly because it was growing at a 45 degree angle. The regrowth is vigorous and upright. How should I maintain it until it starts to eventually droop over?”

And this is the photo which she sent:

 

 

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