'Leggy' heathers

Fay

Hi everyoneWe moved into our house in October and therefore this is the first time we are seeing the garden begin to come to life. There are lots of heathers in the garden, one of the previous owners must have loved them. However, most have been left to grow quite tall and large and therefore, under the very tops (which are green) they are just all wood and look very unsightly. Is there anything we can do with them? If we cut them back will they re-grow their greenery and flowers, or just stay as bare looking woody clumps? Such as a shame as I've read they really attract bees, but they currently make the garden look very unkempt

tanith

Heather is usually lightly pruned after flowering I think if you cut into old wood they don't like it and will likely die.. some may survive but its not recommended...

[Deleted User]

I would look uo how to propogate from cuttings as you will need to start again. Well trimmed heathers look stunning but leggy one aren`t nice and won`t recover from cutting back

Fay

Thanks guys, it's as I suspected then. A shame but I will look into taking cuttings, thanks kittie.

ladylouise62

I have a vague memory of being able to 'sink' the plant into the ground and it will re-root form the stems - effectively trimming it from the bottom. If you google 'burying heather' I came across this quote on letsgarden.info :
" Deep layering is practiced on heather plants, for example. It consists of burying the whole trunk entirely and leaving only the extremities of the shoots exposed. After about a year, you should remove the old roots and recover the new shoots which have taken root."

MrsRogers

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/3317969/Your-garden-this-week.html

Here is an article regarding pruning heathers. Rhs recommends between Feb & April