Lavateria "Barnsley"

It has now done its thing and was a sight to behold in the new garden tho looking a bit spent now should I prune it hard in Autumn or Spring?
Also got some wallflower seeds in, they were up in 8 days looking forward to a good spring show if nothing eats them.

 

I personally would prune by half or down to about 3-4 foot in autumn and hard prune in spring, reason being lavatera can split if too top heavy, so reduce the size for the winter but leaving enough protection from real hard frost, also "Barnsley" is prone to reverting back to type ("Rosea").

 

Now that is a very funny thing you should say about reverting to type...as there were two very different coloured branches on this bush two very plain pink.. attractive but odd.

 

well, "Barnsley" should be VERY pale pink (almost white) with a red eye. it is still quite common to see a lavatera labeled as "Barnsley" with a deep pink flower (of course this has already reverted)and strangely you sometimes see an individual flower half "Barnsley" and half "Rosea", anyway two different flowers on the same plant is a good talking point.