The 'outsiders'

After a dry summer and early autumn, November and December have been quite wet; not many good gardening days this past week, although I have made a start on clearing the weeds beyond the far side of the patio.  Standing at the window and looking out at the garden, my eye is taken by the big Viburnum davidii by the pond.  When I say ‘big’, I mean about 2.5 metres (8-9 feet or so) across.  It stretches out across part of the pond, which the birds like because they can bathe (water level permitting) out of sight under the branches, and the foliage cover (it’s evergreen) also helps stop that part of the pond from freezing in cold weather, so they have drinking water on icy days. 

The big Viburnum davidii

However, the bush is much too big and needs to be cut down to size, but the problem is how to do that.  Its manner of growth is to produce foliage at the branch ends, so all the leaves are on the outside, with nothing inside.  Just shortening the branches would result in bare wood; the branches will have to be cut out in their entirety.  I’m not sure that would leave much; I doubt if it re-shoots from old wood.  It might be possible to reduce the size a little by cutting back to the slightly shorter side-shoots, but I think the only realistic remedy might be to take cuttings and re-plant.  It would be a pity; it’s a handsome shrub, with lovely corrugated leaves.  And the birds like to use it as cover.

The other ‘outsider’ is the big hebe between the patio and the pond.  It too is handsome but getting too big, and while it looks good from one side, it has what I can only call a bare backside; there are definite woody patches at the rear, only partially masked by the ivy and other weeds in that part of the bed.  It has the same growth pattern as the viburnum, and is unlikely to look good after conventional pruning for the same reasons.  I have taken cuttings of it, and am growing two of them on, but it’s a very slow grower and it will be some time before the cuttings make any sort of impact.  Other plants will have to fill the gaps in the meantime.

The hebe: front ,,,

... and back

Other plants: well, given it’s mid-December, not much is looking its best at the moment.  There are very promising buds on the hellebores, and the early snowdrops – Galanthus elwesii – are already about to bloom.  I potted up some bulbs earlier in the year, and they are doing nicely; one has a good-sized bud which should open very soon.

Signs of spring in the ground - 

- and in the pot