HEBES

i was wondering about the general care for hebes like the ones in the picture. other older ones i have became leggy and not that good looking. would i prune them to keep encouraging them to produce new growth?they are a nice little shrub, or is that sub shrub ? and these ones have been in flower all over winter

 

Most hebes respond well to a good pruning. We had one before we moved that was pruned hard every 3 or 4 years because of limited space and it always came back just as good. You might lose some of the flowers after pruning but the second year should be as good. I would do it in March so that it has all summer to recuperate.

 

I was once told to prune hebes just after flowering but, just as your is, mine has been flowering all last summer and through the winter too, so as Celia says I will probably give it a prune come march - if only to force it to have a rest!

 

The only reservation I would have on what Celias says is that leggy ones don't generally respond well - in fact the usual advice in those cases is to get rid of it an get anew one.... But as they take well from cuttings, what I generally do if having to deal with a very leggy favourite hebe of a customer, is to take lots of cuttings and get them established first, before removing the old straggly (which is usually blocking the path to somewhere....

The ones in your picture should respond well, though, and shhould stay compact if you trim them regularly, to avoi them getting leggy, Tig.

 

I agree with dendro, take cuttings. I hard prune some of my larger hebes on a fairly regular basis. But i only cut out about a third and never below the lowest couple of buds. And in late autumn, i trim back the shoots that aren't flowering at the time.

 

I learned the hard way and pruned one back too hard and it never recovered :( I took some cuttings when a few bits came back through and they turned into nice plants though :D I kept one in a pot and put the other on my herb bed cos it looks nice there :D I love them

 

We lost almost all of ours last winter and they were all grown from wild collected seeds so irreplaceable. I have never yet managed to get a cutting from any Hebe to root, so good luck to you.