Flowering Forsythia in February – Unless you Clipped in Winter!

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All over the country, yellow star shaped flowers are lighting up in streamers along the upright, arching branches of Forsythia bushes and hedgerows.

The most popular garden variety is Forsythia x intermedia Spectabilis. It can be grown as a dense, functional hedge plant, a sinuous small tree or pruned into a vigorous shrub.

But you might well see many Forsythia hedges looking quite sad right now, with lots of bushy, bare twigs and few flowers.

These sparsely decorated hedges were trimmed in winter – this was bit of a mistake, because most of the maturing flower buds got chopped off.

Winter is a fine time to trim a hedge from the plant’s point of view, but because you also want to admire the flowers of Forsythia, or other spring-summer flowering plants like Choisya ternata, you have to trim it soon after it flowers in spring or early summer.

It’s good to be rough with this trim: Try to cut off all of the parts of the stems that had flowers on them, ideally cutting back to nice bud or side shoot.

This will encourage lots of new growth, which have close to a year to mature and then flower.
You can tidy up vigorous shoots in August and even take a little off all over if you enjoy a really neat looking hedge without affecting the flowers much, but I prefer to just leave it be.

Forsythias come from China; they were brought here by a great-grandfather of Bruce Forsyth.
The Forsythia intermedia hyrid was first crossed in Germany in the 1870′s.

The pictures above were taken on the same day in Bristol and all the plants were in sunny locations.

How to Choose Rootstocks for Fruit Trees – The Easy Way

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Rootstocks on fruit trees bought from our Nursery:

Rootstocks cause a lot of unnecessary worry. A rootstock controls the growth of a tree and there are many different ones in existence.
This post is a long winded way of saying do not worry about rootstocks when you buy fruit trees from us; we choose the best ones for the job.

In short, we grow all of our 2 largest sizes of fruit tree, Bushes and Half Standards – on “semi-vigorous” rootstocks that produce a nice size tree for a garden or orchard.
Our 2 smallest sizes, Maidens and Cordons (only apples & pears are grown as cordons) are grown on either “semi-vigorous” or “semi-dwarfing” rootstocks depending on the variety. Whichever it is, it will be suitable for growing as a restricted, wire-trained shape.

Just What is a Rootstock?

All the fruit trees that you know and love are clones, from Granny Smith to Victoria Plum.

More than just clones, they are living in a Siamese twin relationship with another tree’s roots.

So, there is only one Granny Smith apple tree from a genetic point of view.
Cuttings of new growth from that one tree, called scions, can be grafted onto a rootstock chosen from a range of different sapling apple trees.

Grafting a scion onto a rootstock is a much better way of cloning a fruit tree from a cutting than just getting the cutting to take root itself.

The key benefit is that each rootstock type has known attributes and a predictable effect on the new tree’s growth.

The practical reality is that people either want a medium-large fruit tree or they want to train fruit tree on wires, usually against a wall or fence.
As described above, you only really need 2 rootstocks to be able to grow any normal size tree or restricted shape like fans, espaliers, step-overs or arches.

Which Fruit Tree Size Should I Start With?

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We get this question all the time and it’s a very sensible one: which of the 3 or 4 starting sizes of fruit tree should I choose?

A well loved fruit tree will be in its prime for about 50 years and a new one takes at least a couple of years to establish and bear fruit, so choosing the right one matters!

I’m going to jump to the end here.
For most people’s gardens, where space is precious, the best choice of free-standing fruit tree (i.e. not trained on wires) is a Bush.

A bush fruit tree has simply been pruned when it was young to give it with a very short main trunk, about 1 metre tall. As a result, the canopy of branches that produce the fruit is smaller and lower than a full sized fruit tree.

Compared to a “normal”, large fruit tree, which are known as standards, a bush shaped fruit tree:

  • Needs less room & can be planted closer together.
  • Will use up smaller amounts of soil nutrients & cast less shade around it.
  • Can be pruned, harvested and sprayed easily with a sturdy little step-ladder.
  • Can be netted easily to protect against birds (often necessary for cherries).

Of course, there is nothing wrong with a big half-standard tree if you have the room for it. It will need a big ladder made safe for garden use when your trees are mature.

So, if you want the biggest possible tree, get a Half-Standard.
If you want a proper fruit tree but don’t have the room for a Standard, get a Bush.

What about all the Wire Trained Shapes?

There are several ways to train a fruit tree on wires in a restricted space – espaliers, fans, cordons, step-overs and arches being the main ones.

There is only one starting size you need for all of these: the Maiden.
A maiden is the youngest & cheapest fruit tree you can buy.
After planting, you prune it yourself down to the correct size for your project.

Most of our suitable apple and pear varieties are available as ready made cordons, which effectively a tree with a single, thin branch grown on wires or other supports at a 45 degree angle.
You can train a maiden into a cordon yourself, but buying a cordon will give you a 1 year head start.

In order of final size when mature, the four sizes we sell:

Biggest:
Half Standards.
Bush
All the various wire trained shapes – use a Maiden.
Smallest: Apples and pears that are spur bearing, as opposed to tip bearing, can be grown on wires as restricted Cordons.

Whichever size is right for your garden or orchard, all the fruit trees we grow are Guaranteed for 1 Year & have O% VAT.

Why Buy English Lavender Plants?

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English Lavender Plants, Lavandula angustifolia, are the best choice for planting out in the open in the UK: that’s why we don’t sell any other kind.
We Guarantee all our plants, so we like to grow the toughest ones!

Lavenders come from around the Mediterranean world.
Spanish Lavender varieties, Lavandula stoechas, are one of the most popular, with their grape shaped, intricate flower heads. However, they are quite tender – a harsh winter cold snap like the one we just had would be a bit much for them.

Lavandula angustifolia was brought here in large amounts about 500 years ago and it quickly hopped from Britain to the newly seized American colonies – this is how a Mediterranean bush gained the name “English Lavender”.

From lavender’s point of view, an average British garden with rich soil and not too much direct sun is quite an extreme environment – if it was much colder and wetter, it would be impossible to live there.

This is why lavender plants are ideal for growing in pots – they can be sheltered in winter, moved into the sun in summer and the pot can be kept much less damp than the ground during long periods of wet weather.

The lavender you buy from us can be grown in pots and it also comes recommended for  planting out in the garden, facing the snow and damp.

Planting Lavender Outdoors:

If possible, put them in a place that has an echo of the Mediterranean: the sunny side of the garden or the dry patch of soil beside the shed.

If your soil is rocky / sandy and free draining, that’s great – just mix in a little manure/compost at planting time.

If you have a moist soil and want to make things better for your lavender, the best thing is to dig lots of old manure into it until you’ve raised the level by at least 6-10 inches.

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Topics

Hedging Fruit trees Trees planting Yew Hedge Hawthorn beech lavender apple trees prune lavender plants pruning bush summer hedge winter Watering shrubs