Pruning buddleia

Ruby lady: Good to see your post! Reading this thread I realise I'll need to get out again soon. I left my unruly buddleia about 5' tall, neither knee nor ankle height!

Hi Rubylady, so nice to hear from you. Hope you and your buddleia (sp?)are well.

Wow! Some great advice on here! Maybe this thread should be re-named Gran's Garden Corner ?

Lucky - I was at David Austin Roses a couple of weeks ago ?
Perhaps gransnetters should wear a discrete badge so we can acknowledge one another when we're out and about ?

My buddlia has been lying on its side in the garden for a few weeks but still putting out new shoots. It is one tough cookie.

I have bought a couple of raised beds for growing fruit and veg in. Need my odd job man to put them together and then to put the compost in. And to tidy up the garden a bit.

Got some first earlies, second earlies and main crop plus an onion set and carrot seeds. I'll also do strawberries but probably won't get much off this year if they are baby plants. ?

Yes, Sorry, roses, my mistake.

Merlot we have that scented shrub but it isn't verbena, it's a viburnum bodnantense Dawn.Is that the same one?

My gardening skills are proceeding apace - today I "gave the lavender a haircut", according to my DGD!

Thanks Merlot and J52 - that's great help

fumanchu you might find the sort of plants you are looking for at The Cally Gardens Gatehouse of Fleet. The chap who owns them is very knowledgeable and has spent a lot of time in Asia sourcing plants that have similar growing conditions to those found in Scotland. There is a comprehensive on line catalogue, but it is a real treat to visit his 18th century walled garden.
Another great place for specific plants that grow well in Scotland is the Elizabeth MacGregor Nursery in Kirkcudbright. She also has an on line catalogue, full of unusual species and an oval walled garden. Another lovely place to visit.

I don't think either is open to the public until after Easter.

www.beechgrove.co.uk/the-program

Try contacting them, fumanchu. Their programme is very informative. I love watching it when it's on even though I live in East Anglia so my growing conditions couldn't be more different.

Well... not a lot grows here lol - broom and turnips mainly! I will do some research - ty.

fumanchu I think you will have to look at what grows around you and also do some homework regarding plants from other parts of the world at the same environmental circumstances including the soil type.

Me too - tell me more about the scented garden... I am very fed up of buying stuff that is advertised as "easy to grow-" and then finding it might be easy in the south of England but up here at 1000ft in Scottish hills its just plain DEAD.

As it is a large space you might have room for a shrub that is in flower now and has a lovely scent - Verbena bodnantense 'Dawn'

You get pink, scented flowers at this time of the year. The leaves follow on a bit later.

We went to David Austin, the rose specialist, and bought his scented pack of 8 bushes and we added two more as it is a big space. I also ordered two mock orange and two lilac trees. In the wall I have put herbs that are scented, thyme, rosemary etc. And there is also a railed fence by the patio (round the raised decking) and I have put jasmine and honeysuckle in pots.

lucky you have done exactly what I want to do with my garden! What plants have you chosen for your scented garden?

lucky that all sounds divine! I love gardening. This year I have planted 3 new rose climbers yellow and white to match a yellow and white scented shrub bed I have planted up. Everything seems to be thriving so far. Takes up hours of my time in planning and doing.

Sounds lovely Lucky
Yes, buddleia are tough......all except the one we planted five years ago which died inexplicably last year!

Thanks for the info - I am gathering expertise as I go along.

The lady who lived here before us was a brilliant gardener and it is stuffed with wonderful things - we decided we would wait a year before doing anything major, just to see what comes up. The only thing we have done is to replace a vegetable garden with a scented garden, as we knew we would not have the ability to grow vegetables. And we had a new patio made with a little low wall round it, which we filled with scented herbs - it overlooks the new scented garden which has scented roses, mock orange and lilac in it - can't wait for the summer!

A simple rule with clematis...If it flowers before June, don't prune (just remove any dead stuff) The later flowering ones need cutting back hard now.

How exciting having a new garden Luckygirl. Please don't do as some neighbours of mine did years ago. They moved in just before Christmas and very soon started getting the garden how they wanted 'because everything looks dead' which ammounted to rotovating the lot and replanting. They had destroyed many of the lovely perrenial plants which had been there and dismayed when bulbs started popping up in their nice new perfect lawn. They must have spent a fortune and ended up with something like a dogs dinner with far less interesting plants.
Had they waited a few months they would have had a gorgeous garden for little effort and no expense.

I am lazy and do it straight after flowering, so dead-head and prune all in one job. It always comes back vigorously.

Yes, get that buddleia down to ankle height otherwise it will take over. As for clematis, you need to know the variety as there are different kinds with different requirements.

I prune my clematis on St Valentine's Day. I have three roses and am hopeless at pruning them, despite poring over the RHS Book of Pruning and Training, but they always flower for me, bless them. I am hoping all my plants will do better now that they are not overshadowed by a huge laurel hedge which dropped its dead leaves all over the place. I took up two bin bags full yesterday from the flower bed and am mightily glad that it won't happen again.

I love my buddleias because they're so forgiving.