Hi total newbie needs your sage advice :-)

Actually, it's not about Sage but about a tree I have inherited when I bought my new house. Can you help with ID this ( it has just finished flowering, tiny pale pink flowers) and when is the best time to trim it back.
Any other advice gratefully received.

 

Hi Yvonneto Gardeners corner. I have three of these they are Bodnantense 'Dawn', it flowers mainly during the winter when the tree has lost its leaves. It requires very little maintenance mainly to keep it in shape and remove any long branches or if you want to thin it out. Anymore than that do it in late winter or early spring but not if frost is about. If you want to be more drastic you can cut it down by a third of its size each year and it doesn't harm the tree at all.

 

Thanks Anne, I think you could be on the right track but I'm confused about the flowering through the winter, its been flowering for the last 3 months and has just finished?

 

Welcome to the forums Yvonne!
Anne is correct.
Viburnum x Bodnantense Dawn.
It may have a few flowers in summer. But the main flowering time is in winter when it flowers on bare twigs.
If you prune it now you will be cutting off all the flower buds.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&cp=22&gs_id=2n&xhr=t&q=viburnum+bodnantense+dawn&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&biw=1536&bih=776&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=HIRLUP3uFNCT0QXS2IDoCA

http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardens/Rosemoor/About-Rosemoor/Plant-of-the-month/November/Viburnum-x-bodnantense-Dawn

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plants/plant_finder/plant_pages/971.shtml

 

Well that's good news and bad as I was hoping it was evergreen but I'm looking forward flowers through the winter. Thank you so much for your help.

 

Welcome to GC, Yvonne Looking forward to getting to know you around the forums

 

Thanks for the warm welcome off you all :-) I've been lurking for a while and trying to educate myself but I think the real learning happens when you get your hands dirty. I have bought a house with a lovely sunny rear garden but it completely paved over so I'm going to have to shift a ton of concrete before I can start planting. It hasn't stopped me buying plants though, they are all lined up in pots, waiting for a new home. I might start a thread on the development of it, which is the best section to put it in?

 

Beginner Garden Development?

 

Oooh, "hello" Yvonne, like your avatar!

 

Lol, *blush* thank you I'm going to start a thread in the section you suggested. It's daunting and exciting this gardening lark, I've read your recent posts and totally know where you are coming from!

 

I look forward to reading your thread Yvonne

 

Hi Yvonne
mine has been flowering for the last 6 weeks also.
It's a young plant and this is the first time it has flowered.
I too look forward to winter flowers. It is evergreen.

Geoff

 

Geoff, if yours is evergreen then it is something different.
Viburnum x Bodnantense Dawn is definitely deciduous and loses all leaves in winter.
This can be seen in many of the pics on this link.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Viburnum x Bodnantense Dawn&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&oe=utf8&rlz=&redir_esc=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=hFRMUKnIO4O70QWZzYHoBw&biw=720&bih=347&sei=h1RMUNy3A8Wn0QWB9YBg#q=Viburnum x Bodnantense Dawn&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&tbm=isch&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=8c922dc20a68d869&biw=1355&bih=653

http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/23476/enlarge

 

I'll have to wait until winter to see if my memory is boggled (likely)