Friday, February 12, 2010

freshly pruned perrenials


pruned purple fountain grass

Last weekend husband Kurt got into the zone and went to town pruning pretty much everything in the front and side yards. Early Happy Valentine's present to me! Tomorrow's forecast is nice, so I'll REALLY have no excuse to not weed the vegetable gardens. Although I'm embarrassed how overgrown I've allowed them to become, I'll probably be brave enough to post before and after photos soon.


pruned indigo spires, ornamental grass (whose name I can never remember), bush germander, plumbago, and Mexican bush sage


pruned plumbago (my biggest, oldest group) and bush germander


pruned (came with the house and is not invasive) ligustrum


again, that ornamental grass whose name I can never remember

10 comments:

LindaCTG said...

I love it! What a great feeling when everything is cleaned up and ready to start over. I truly love this time of year. It's work, but it is so fun to create a new look that you know will turn into another new look soon. Your garden looks as tidy as always. So, can you come to my house?!

Iris said...

Hi Linda--I'll pass along your compliments to my husband, who did virtually all that pruning. And I'll ask him if he wants to work on your house--hee hee.

TexasDeb said...

Fountain grass? Congrats to Kurt for a job well done and to you for having the great good sense to have married a man with such a fine work ethic!

So could/would you say more about the non-invasive ligustrum? Seems we only have the invaders from hell kind at my house - and we didn't plant any of them, either!

Miranda Rommel said...

I've been waiting to prune until later in the month - do you think it's time? i've got all sorts of scabby perennials (lantanas, salvias, lavendar) that could really stand a good hacking.
Is now a good time despite the 30s still in the forecast?

Kathleen Scott said...

Congratulations on your haircut! Fedls good to have the plants ready for spring, I bet. I have a combination of laziness and fear to blame for leaving my stalks standing. Am thinking about mid-March for most things, maybe late March for the fruiting plants.

I want to see your bush germander when it sprouts back out. I've been thinking about it for our Hill Country yard.

Pam/Digging said...

Oh boy, do I need to get pruning. This is my traditional weekend to do it, and I see new growth popping up all around the garden. Must. Get. To. It.

Iris said...

Deb--Thank you so much! I'll have to do a little research to see if I can determine what variety our seemingly non-invasive ligustrum is. I think maybe ours is just in a "good" spot, because the nandina and cherry laurels (both came with the house) are definitely more invasive here. We have to pull out and/or prune their suckers/sapplings many times throughout the year.

Miranda--From what I've been told, now is definitely the time to go ahead and prune your woody-stemmed perennials, like the ones you mentioned. You should go ahead and cut back the mushy stuff from any plants that look mushy from the freezes, too.

Kathleen--will try to remember to post spring pics of the bush germander. We've had some for a few years and found them to be drought tolerant and low maintenance. Plus I like their silvery evergreen foliage and occasional little pale purple flowers.

Pam--I know how you feel. I spent a couple of hours today pulling weeds and only made a tiny dent! I'm extremely grateful to husband Kurt for all his pruning work!

Rock rose said...

It won't be long before new growth is shooting up on all those grasses. I didn't know that purple fountain grass would winter over here. I planted it once when I first came and it died over the winter so I didn't think it was hardy. I also don't know about the different kinds of ligustrum. I had one seed here and someone identified it so I pulled it out. Maybe I was wrong because it was a nice tree. Nice to have a good helper.

The Curious Holts said...

OOooo, y'all were good. I LOVE your awnings!!! could I see more awning pictures? please please whine whine. I'll bring some wine if I can whine about seeing them.

Iris said...

Lancashire rose--The purple fountaingrass is several years old. I'm not sure if the one I planted last summer is going to make it.

Curious Holts--We like them lots, too--thanks. If you scroll down to the very bottom, you'll find the list of tags. If you check out the "1941 house" tag you'll find more pics of the awnings, but I think this past post is probably the best for awning pics:
http://societygarlic.blogspot.com/2009/02/day-125-house-project-finally-finished.html