A silly pruning question ....

Hi guys ... i have what i believe is a California Lilac which has grown so vigorously, it's actually covering a window and swallowing a bird bath! Is it too late in the season to prune it down to size? Better to wait till spring?

I would wait so you can have the flowers. Lilac are best pruned after flowering. though I often prune to get the shape and size I want regardless of the flower. I am quick to whack and get the shape I want. After all if I couldn't see out the window WHACK, I would not wait to see the rest of the garden out the window. That is just me.

California lilac is in the Ceanothus genus and thus is not a true lilac. Regardless, Sofer is correct in waiting until after the bloom to prune. The general rule of thumb is to prune spring flowering shrubs after they flower for the season, and prune summer flowering shrubs just as they begin budding out in the spring. But even then, I'm not sure that you'll want to prune this back as hard as it sounds like you will need to. Ceanothus doesn't like to be hard pruned and you will risk losing the plant. If you are going to have to take more than roughly a third of the plant, then maybe this particular shrub is in the wrong place? If you need to move it so it has more room, this is a good time to do so. It does sound happy where it is, but evidently it needs more room. They are beautiful shrubs. One of my neighbors has one that is about 20 feet high and is simply covered in blue in the spring!

Thank you so much! I'll wait till after the Spring flower to give it some shape again. I probably overstated how overgrown it is. :)

This is one of the few bits of plant material the builder put in, and although i'm not wild about the location, i'm hesitant to move it given how it's thriving. As a rule, i really do prefer to just let things grow to their natural proportions with only minimal pruning. But i suppose i'll give this "hedge" thing a try for this particular plant in this particular location.

Thanks for the words of wisdom guys ....

~~~ scampers off to put "hedge clippers" on the shopping list ~~~

:) You're right, it iS doing well in that location. Probably likes the heat banked in the brick.

Maybe you could move your house over a bit instead of the shrub?

But ponditis, if she moved the house then she would have to move the sun too - its so nicely positioned - goodness its difficult.

Choices, choices! What to do with such a lovely shrub???

Laurie,

She should be able to move that sun very easily if she can only rope it to her house as she is moving the house. Seems to me that the sun would move right over with the house.


( if she believes that I have a bridge in the middle of the Pacific ocean I can sell her for a very reasonable price)

I'm convinced. But then, after yesterday evening I am a reaffirmed believer in Santa Claus - ohhhhh, jingle bells jingle bells.

I am sorry, but I do have to take a complete tangent off this thread for just a minute, I promise I will not hi-jack this for more than a second - but I am just bursting to tell someone about this.

One of my supervisee's last night gave me the most marvellous christmas present. Just towards the end of our session her telephone went off - something that is a real no-no, and seemed very odd with this particular person. She looked at the message, nodded and said that she needed to step outside for a minute and put her coat on. Slightly bemused and slightly concerned and slightly miffed (I take my work very seriously) I followed at a bit of a distance to see what was interrupting us. She disappeared around the corner, and then glided back with two others, all three of them holding music and singing.

She arranged to Carol sing for me with two of her former colleagues!

It was spectacular! Three operatically trained voices, and years of musical theatre experience between them (she is changing careers) - and here they were singing in the season for me on my doorstep. I was delightfully embarassed and deeply touched.

What added to the fun is that we live in a very small mews - the buildings across from us are less than 10 metres - and by the end of the first song, half a dozen windows were open with my neighbours sticking their heads out. This was a sound treat that everyone could enjoy - and boy, you can't imagine how those voices can broadcast! I was swaddled in sound, and warmth.

What a great present, possibly one of the best I have ever received. Certainly one I will never forget.

Now back to pruning.

Pruning?! Pish.

What songs did they sing?

~~ beams smiles at the mere thought ~~

What a grand gift to you! I would have loved to have heard those songs.

Yup what did they sing for you?

Oh gawd, I don't know any of the names - a couple definately in italian, one about bells, and another definately about angels resting. Sorry, my church going as a child was nonexistent. A more secular family will never be known. But they were definately wonderful.

Estreya, did the winds solve your moving the house-or-the-shrub problem? Sounds like it could have.

:)

We were very very fortunate. Although the wind didn't seem to terribly preoccupied with the house/shrub location, it DID focus most of its energies on two trees that have been on the "chopping block" for some time now. If the wind could speak, it might have delivered the ultimatum, "If you don't get a chain saw and take these horrible dead trees down yourselves, i suppose i'll just have to huff and puff and do it for you!"

It topped a few of them off, then left the rest for us ...

:)