Pruning time or is it?

moneysaver1978

We have been away and I am now considering if pruning or at least tidy up is worth doing now as they are all a bit overgrown (and overlapping the lawn!):
- 2 types of hebe
- 1 hot lips
- Mexican Orange

I thought we could prune only if they had stopped flowering but they are still flowering!

Is it too risky to prune now? ChatGPT says prune in March.

I received amazing advice here about the climbing rose and it is going really well!

Farway

I've found hebe are not fussy, so if overhanging, lop the offending bits off

Hot lips, would be fine now, but personally, if in flower I'd enjoy the flowers a bit longer, any late bees etc. Time enough after any frost / snow 

Mexican orange, sorry, can't help

Working_Mum

Hi moneysaver1978
I tend to lop my Salvias in mid-Spring before the old wood starts to grow too much. I am quite brutal and took mine to within 3" and they re-grew like topsy (the 3 of them are in pots to be fair). I agree with Farway that anything with flowers is food for bees so keep them on!

I had a Mexican Orange in my old garden and it was indestructible - not grown a Hebe to any great size so can't offer anything too instructive.

I tend to cut back trees, shrubs etc in late Winter / early Spring - I enjoy the shapes during the colder months and they give cover and interest to the birds etc.

Good luck with whatever direction you go!

Slinky

Mexican orange/choysia I've hacked this back at any time of year and it's been fine. Ours is a bit of a beast of a plant. It was in the garden when we bought the house 9 yeas ago I took it right back to about a foot high in the winter at one point, and two years later it was massive again.

Salvias, I saw on Gardener's World a few weeks ago that they can be quite tender. Monty was taking cuttings so he would have plants for next year. I bought a fairly small one at the start of September. I've potted it up and put it on the garage windowsill where it will stay across the winter. My friend put a new one in last year and it suffered quite a bit across last winter.

Dustyevsky

Salvia 'Hot Lips' is tougher than some of its close relatives, but that colour is wrong for 'Hot Lips.' It's more like 'Cerro Potosi.'

Regardless, when you do decide to prune, just do the minimum. Then, like Working Mum says, once spring is well under way do the final, more severe cut back, once the risk of frost is low.

twopenny

I'd agree. If it's really a problem then chop some back but for a good shaping then early spring is best when the leaves are growing.

If you lop hard back now you'll have ugly looking shrubs till spring.

If I'm taking big stuff back then I'll do half heavy prune leaving the other half to generate energy for the growth of the lopped half.
Then when it's going good, lop the other half.
That seems to work quickest for regrowth.

moneysaver1978

Wonderful advice, thank you all! I will just trim a bit, then.

We moved in just over 2 years ago and all these plants were already here (and some were neglected) so we are still learning as we go and learned only today that the salvia is in fact not hot lips (thanks Dusty!)!

The Salvia is a bit leggy/woody, is it too late to rescue it or will it always be leggy? We are thinking about relocating it in the spring so it is closer to the house as it is not appreciated enough being far away from the house!

twopenny

If it's woody you could try planting it deeper so it makes new roots from the woody part and looks more flush.
Don't prune it as well. Let it settle and trim when you see good new growth.

From now on would be the best time to move it if it's not still growing/flowering. Depends a bit on your location and the temperature.
I've started moving plants around in the SW because the wet should help them re-establish more quickly.

Others who have more experience of salvias will deny or confirm.

moneysaver1978

twopenny said:

If it's woody you could try planting it deeper so it makes new roots from the woody part and looks more flush.
Don't prune it as well. Let it settle and trim when you see good new growth.

From now on would be the best time to move it if it's not still growing/flowering. Depends a bit on your location and the temperature.
I've started moving plants around in the SW because the wet should help them re-establish more quickly.

Others who have more experience of salvias will deny or confirm.

That's a good idea! We are in the north part of Kent so similar to your location too.

twopenny

Don't know where I learned it but I believe it was decades ago about thymes and lavender 
If it's slender wood it's just like taking cuttings but on a bigger scale .

You might want to take some cuttings too. If you have a small non flowering branch bend it back and gently down where it joins the bigger stem so you want a bit of each. Or you can cut below a leaf.
Pull of leaves half way up the stem.
Stick it in the soil half way and press down hard all round. Do 3. Leave them till spring and see if new leaves start.

Try not to pull them out as weeds 😆
Been there, done that.