Yesterday I had a successful bonfire even though the heap of hedge trimmings and garden waste was rather wet. In order to keep it going I pruned a couple of plants. The first to get the saw treatment was Salix purpurea ‘Nancy Sanders’ Its a lovely bushy small tree with reddish stems, narrow leaves and small catkins in the spring. The trouble is that it doesn’t have a single trunk and some of the lower branches needed to come off to prevent it from growing into nearby plants. I love pruning, I cut a piece out, stand back, take a look and decide which is the next bit to remove. It looked so much better when I’d done it.
Then on to the tamarix which has been annoying me for some time. Like the willow, it branches all along the main stem. It grows very fast and gets too close to the Lonicera fragrantissima and variegated holly on either side of it. I own up to planting the three shrubs too close to each other. So I pruned a bit and then a bit more and stood back and pruned yet more. I still don’t like the shape but I guess it looks better. And I had more fuel for the fire. Just as well I did it then because it has rained again overnight.
I spend much of my gardening life pruning too. Or so it seems. Like you I find it satisfying, and instantly so. Not often having a lot of space to work with or on, I do over-plant. If you prune little and often you can get away with it.
I’m pleased it’s not only me that enjoys doing it.
Taking out Phyllostachys aurea/P. nigra tall bamboo, and a Sasa thicket recently has been one of my hardest removal jobs. It was all replaced with laurels, and having planted them, pruning was the first job.
In fact recent a horticultural research study on planting quick-growers like buddleia etc., has shown that pruning by up to a third of root and top growth gives better establishment and growth.