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Post by oldmoleskins on Oct 13, 2006 19:41:39 GMT
the venerable cotoneaster pictured below has grown up and over the old shed for maybe 30 years or more - but the shed's coming down and the plant has to as well - part of the point of the project is to open up the view. Although not obvious in the pic, there are signs of shoots as low as 12inches above ground - has anyone experience of regeneration of a shrub this old and cotoneasters inparticular - will it burst into life from these low buds like laurel or yew - or will the shock kill it? There will be plenty of 'cuttings' material - so there's some insurance! OM.  |
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Post by 4pygmies on Oct 15, 2006 4:51:29 GMT
I once moved an extremely old privet hedge for a friend, replanted some of it in my garden and the couple of bits that survived are still going strong but it was very hit and miss. I would be surprised if your Cotoneaster survived but its had a good run by the sound of it. Take cuttings OM as it's obviously a good grower! You never know with plants though do you?
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Post by Dr Bill on Oct 15, 2006 9:00:20 GMT
We have a cotoneaster grown as a tree and we can't stop it producing branches low down on the trunk.
I wouldn't mind betting you will have a job to kill it unless you dig the whole lot out. I think it will produce more shoots
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Post by andy on Oct 15, 2006 9:44:30 GMT
Cottoneaster can be hacked back pretty well. What variety is your.....looks like horizontalis and they respond well to cutting hard back.
On the other hand, cottoneasters belong to the family "rosacea" or the rose family which also include fruit trees such as apple, pear and cherry, pyrecantha and ornamental prunus sp.
This family are notoriously short lived in the plant world....a prunus can be expected to live for 30-60 years (which is quite short lived). They are also very susceptable to fire blight....which i'm sure is a notifiable diease !!!
Which begs the question, would it be better to just dig the old cottoneaster out and replant with with a young plant via cuttings or seed ?
HTH
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Post by oldmoleskins on Oct 15, 2006 20:52:38 GMT
yeah, well, I'm always reluctant to take trees/shrubs out if they're tolerable (sorry, 4P, I make an exception with elder... unreasonably hate elder with a passion and remove them at the slightest provocation...) so athough the position, once the shed has gone, is not ideal, I thought its only chance in the future scheme of things might for it to be really "horizontalis" for the next phase in its life and not "overshedalis"...
I'll cut it back at about a foot and see what happens... and take cuttings!!
OM.
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Post by 4pygmies on Oct 16, 2006 18:26:13 GMT
Elder?? What's wrong with elders? Beautiful in Spring, laden in Autumn, great for wildlife (and goats love it too)...hmm, seems unreasonable hatred to me too - now if it's a yucky Yucca - I'm with you!
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Post by oldmoleskins on Oct 16, 2006 18:36:56 GMT
4P... they are straggly, smelly useless things that seem to exist just to facilitate purple bird poo over the car. You can hardly burn them on a bonfire, so even after death they hang around looking ugly. And, no, I don't like elderfower cordial/'champagne'.
Elders are a touching reminder (like crab apples) of terrible hard times when good country folk 'made the best' of meagre resources, but best forgotten, given the chance. I'm very pleased for your goats. Bet you're glad they can't fly!
But of course, I could be wrong. It happens...
(not goats flying, me being wrong)
OM
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Post by sleepysunday on Oct 16, 2006 18:38:23 GMT
I agree 4P, elder is a magically special plant in my books. It's flowers make champagne, it's berries make jellies, wine, and pontack sauce. It's branches make pea shooters and penny whistles. It provides colour and fragrance in the summer, and food for the birds in autumn. It's 'lacerated' variety looks a little like an acer dissectum. Go go sambucus in my books.
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Post by sleepysunday on Oct 16, 2006 18:40:27 GMT
See? It even qualifies for the purple club!
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Post by 4pygmies on Oct 16, 2006 18:42:14 GMT
Now you're starting on Crab apples!!!! Purple poo? Blimey, must be a funny lot over there.....flying goats...are you feeling alright Moley?
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Post by oldmoleskins on Oct 16, 2006 18:49:14 GMT
Oh c'mon 4P - crab apple jelly is a brave attempt at using something irredeemably useless... now if you were to offer bullace, damson, sloe, wild plum, blackberry, puffballs, even a nibble at very young hawthorn leaves still 'in bud' I'm with you, us old country boys know a good thing, but trying to defend elder and crabs is noble, but hopeless.
OM.
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Post by andy on Oct 16, 2006 19:22:22 GMT
Sorry...slightly off topic. Over the past few years, i've started to really appreciate elders....both the common sambucus nigra and all the different cultivars.
There's one in a verge in our road....i'd imagine it was a seedling and it's 20' high and in spring is adorned with the most incredible amount of flowers.....followed by the berries in autumn
Just needed to get that off my chest ;D
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Post by 4pygmies on Oct 17, 2006 3:48:59 GMT
Crab Apple jelly is gorgeous Moley - especially with roast pork. If I see you at Gressenhall I may have to chuck a pot at you! Second thoughts - why waste it??
Sleepy & Andy - thank you for your support, quite right, hear hear, my row of elders in Spring is a sight to behold.
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Post by oldmoleskins on Oct 17, 2006 8:10:11 GMT
Well, I'm very pleased elders have some who appreciate them, and what a fine, balanced, 'live and let live' attitude to aspire to...
If it helps rehabilitate me wthin polite society, I wouldn't search the place for the last elder and grub it out - the bird food thing alone mitigates in its defence (as long as its far enough away from the cars) - but otherwise I'm a lost cause, I'm afraid...pass me the chainsaw, get out the tractor and chains...
And please 4P, should you go to Gressenhall, do put a jar of your CAJ in the trolley for me - you may be the exception to the culinary rule and I'd be pleased to sample it - but I bet you add so much other (wholesome) stuff to it to make it 'gorgeous' it has an unfair start...
OM.
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Post by 4pygmies on Oct 17, 2006 8:30:08 GMT
Not mine OM! It's just crab apples and sugar........John Downey's are my favourites. Now there's a good looking little tree.......looks sooo nice with the elders!
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Post by oldmoleskins on Oct 17, 2006 8:32:38 GMT
OM
but not about elders... bloody horrible things, elders...
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Post by oldmoleskins on Nov 9, 2006 10:53:19 GMT
ok, for those interested in a cotoneaster saga... When I dropped the shed (by chaining the tractor to two corner "legs") the roof fell but the cotoneaster stayed up - and there was a mass of rootlets about 4 feet by 8 where it had lain on the corrugated iron and rooted into leafmould. So, I've chopped that off and laid it like a giant cotoneaster mat on the ground, and this morning I'm going to work a bit of topsoil through it - and I think it will stand a good chance of making a fine ground-cover plant. So, I'm off now to put the box on the back of the tractor and move a ton or so of topsoil to tidy the old shed base and settle in my new cotoneaster... seems a blameless life... OM.      |
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Post by Chuckles on Nov 9, 2006 11:42:47 GMT
You have been busy OM.
I really liked how it looked in photo No 2, it looked like a lovely old rustic under cover seating area. I would love something like that in my gdn. I like old looking rather than new.
From what you've said it sounds like you've done the right thing fetching the lot down.
Great idea to give it a chance as ground cover, I think it will look really good. Maybe if it doesn't lay totally flat you could just put up a low fence of sorts for it to lean against.
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Post by oldmoleskins on Nov 10, 2006 11:30:52 GMT
what a shame, BB - you could have made me an offer for it... as it is, I salvaged some very nice pine t&g boarding from the roof that will have a new life somewhere around here...
OM.
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Post by Chuckles on Nov 10, 2006 11:38:03 GMT
It really did look cute OM. They don't make sheds like that these days, they just don't last. So pleased you are recycling the T&G I save all sorts of bits of old wood and stuff to use in the gdn.  |
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