I'm through slaughtering the largest rhododendron (scroll down two posts for the previous photos). I'll wait a week or so, when the flowers begin to die, before I tackle the smaller one. It will be easier, as not so much has to be removed from it. I did remove two large branches that were growing into the other rhodie, and it makes it look more balanced.
It looks pretty bad, huh? I can see the bedroom window again, at least for now. I'm sure more new growth will come from those top branches.
All right. Just step AWAY from the pruners. No funny moves, now! Back away from the PRUNERS!!!
ReplyDeleteUm. Yea. It's bad. Really really bad. Maybe I shouldn't give you a peach geranium cutting......
:D
Oh, Sue....it's not THAT bad.
ReplyDeleteIs it?
Gran, what ARE you doing??? LOL.....
ReplyDeleteIt will be just fine Granny.
ReplyDeleteOh, damn! Sue and Erin, I think I'll go sit in the corner and cry. Robin can come with me.
ReplyDeleteGranny, don't listen to them. Erin is having heat stroke from the 100 degree weather. I bet that rhodie will start growing like "The Little Shop of Horrors" plant!
ReplyDeleteI love you, Robin, You be my friend! Erin and Sue be mean to the Granny. :-(
ReplyDeleteRobin called it - I AM suffering heat stroke! And tomorrow I might go hack up my azaleas so I can keep up with you! All in good fun Gran, everything you do in that garden turns to gold!
ReplyDeleteNow, Erin, I'll bet you can't hack up those azaleas as well as I hacked up my rhodie.
ReplyDeleteSomehow that didn't sound right. It was an awful lot of hacking up ;-)
They look pretty much the same as ours did right after we pruned them ...and our have all kinds of new growth on them now; I'm sure yours will too in a few weeks ...
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear that, Deb. The new growth had already started at the bottom of the bush, but the rest was still blossoming, so new growth is just beginning. I think it will be fine.
ReplyDeleteIt's just in a bad spot, right there smack in front of the window. And it looks like there's a gate on the other side? Maybe a different location is in order. Of course YOU'D probably try doing that all by yourself. I'D suggest calling in a lot of favors from those kids and grandkids.
ReplyDeleteJennifer, as old as it is (more than 22 years that I know of) I doubt it would survive a move....and I wouldn't have another spot for it anyway. I should have kept it pruned from the start, but it was so full and pretty! At least I got to the window to wash it today, and I can actually get the ladder in there for some much needed trim painting....which I will do, all by myself. You knew that, didn't you?
ReplyDeleteUh oh...hope the new neighbors don't start peeping at Dad now that his window is exposed!
ReplyDeleteNah, Amy. The neighbors spent the day pruning down their back shrubs, now they can watch those neighbors!
ReplyDeleteI think it looks just fine, and I am sure that you will love it even more in the coming years. I'm glad that you were able to get some useful info from the website.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Vanessa, and thank you for the link. I felt better after reading that I was pruning at the right time (I was quite sure of that, as one usually prunes flowering shrubs at or right after blossoming, for bloom the following year), and that heavy pruning probably wasn't going to kill it.
ReplyDelete