Pruning tips and tricks

A while back Sonya asked my advice on pruning her Wild Dagga.ย  “Hack it down close to the base,” I told her and I have now taken a couple of pics to illustrate what I meant.

I must stress that this isn’t professional advice and there may be a better way of pruning but it works for me.ย  Every year the Wild Dagga grows back fuller and bushier.

Wild Dagga ready for the chop!
Wild Dagga ready for the chop!

Chopped ...
Chopped ...

6 thoughts on “Pruning tips and tricks”

  1. brutal! ๐Ÿ™‚ smile, remember when we lived in hammersmith and there were those climbing roses out the back which we hacked without remorse; it was so satisfying. that was a great bush though, it flowered so prolifically! mouldy, you were there too, remember?

  2. Hey Niall, I think “hack down close to base” is the technically correct term for a lot of pruning advice…or at least its one I use quite often…

    Out in the wild it would be burnt back, but I’m sure your neighbours would object to you setting fire to your garden in winter?

  3. cool, glad I got the terminology right ๐Ÿ™‚

    I once tried to burn a tree stump in my garden and someone called the cops on me so I think I better stick to hacking ..

  4. i am bad at this – just feels like you are killing the plant. i did read once that it’s not necessary to prune roses in the first few years

  5. I hears ya Dagmar, I have a bonsai collection out back that is slowly growing into all manner of fancy permutation because I feel somewhat remorseful in hacking them and shaping them to my will. Strangely, I didn’t experience when taking Niall’s advice and thoroughly enjoyed ‘hacking’ the wild dagga. Now, I am enjoying watching the new straight strong shoots growing with each week.

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