Battered blossoms

Blooming snow balls....

And they are appropriate as it does feel like winter. Our beautiful blossoms – ornamental cherry, crab apple, lilac and our Boule de Neige have all been brutalized by the stormy weather we have been having. The garden needs rain, but the quantity we had last weekend quite defies belief. Our well is topped up by rainwater collected from the roof and it is full to ground level, normally the water is at least three meters down. Seeds which we planted in all confidence and seedlings which we raised lovingly and transplanted carefully have been whipped to shreds by the severe winds. It all reminds me of an incident we had very shortly after we moved here seven years ago.

When we moved here we inherited a beautiful, enormous Boule de Neige (Viburnum macrocephalum or ‘snowball bush’). These are very popular locally as they suit the heavy soil and normally have a fine and dry flowering season which shows the blossoms off to their best advantage. Ours was THE best around and I somewhat smug that it was in my garden.

I watched it develop that first spring with delight. One day the weather changed and it was obvious, because of the blackening clouds, that we were about to have a major storm. So, worried that the tree might collapse under the weight of the rain on the blossoms, I propped the branches up with planks of wood.

I was too much a novice French gardener to realize that storms in this part of the world tend to be preceded by very heavy wind. This duly happened, blowing the planks of wood away. Immediately after the planks landed on the ground there was the mother of all thunderstorms and, when it had all finished, I dashed outside to check the Boule de Neige. It looked as though it had been trampled by a herd of elephants; completely smashed and flattened. I doubted that it would ever recover. Almost all branches had been snapped off and the balls of flowers had been dashed to the ground. There was much weeping and gnashing of teeth and the tree was cut back to a rather ugly stump.

Six years later and it is beautiful once more, although again suffering from the dreadful weather. The size is just right – not as big as previously and a beautiful shape. It has come through the storms. The lesson is clear – if I don’t prune my shrubs and trees properly then at some point nature will. Pruning is essential to keep plants healthy, the right shape and blossoming vigorously. And someone has to do it.

As a rule of thumb, shrubs which flower in the spring need to be pruned after they have flowered. So the Boule de Neige will be pruned in a few weeks’ time when the flowers have all faded. This is because they flower on growth made the previous year. Shrubs which flower in the second half of the year are flowering on growth made that same year (in the spring). You prune them at the end of winter. Therefore, now is the time to prune things such as flowering quince, mahonia, forsythia, winter flowering honeysuckles and winter flowering jasmins. They will grow throughout the summer and bloom again early next year on the new growth which will happen after pruning.