am I too soft?

[magrich]

I have a Hypericum that is going berserk I cut it back earlier this year but it is now enormous. I know I need to 'hack at it', and normally enjoy a bit of gardening vandalism, but it is covered in buds
I am wrong in feeling that to cut it back now ( even if that means the bench will be in full view and use again) will be almost like murder??
I do have a similar problem with seedlings, but get round that by passing the thinnings on .
Anyone else as soft as me???

[Missredhead]

Yeh me...I hate to cut anything back if there are buds on it....

And as for thinning out I usually keep all of them...I have so many at the end that I give most away.

[JennyWrenn]

Early this year I pulled up my two year old straggly wallflower plant - and then put it back again - it is flowering nicely but I think it is nearing its end soon

[Shrubrose]

I know just how you feel Magrich - it's a real dilemma isn't it? Have to say I usually let things get on with it and when they've gone over, then I do the deed. We've just rescued a garden bench that was so entwined with honeysuckle that it couldn't be used. We carefully pulled out all the parts of the bush and laid it on the floor - it now has to be tied back in to the trellis

[Deleted]

Sounds very familiar. There's nothing worse than taking out something that's in the wrong place but it has to be done.

[Weeterrier]

You are certainly not alone. I apologise to weeds

[magrich]

Thank you all for making me feel sooo much better! I don't actually apologise to weeds, but I have been known to bid 'farewell' to slugs as I drop them in a bucket of water.

[JennyWrenn]

I hate cutting the heads off the daisies on my lawn when I mow it

[Weeterrier]

I cannot kill slugs and snails, but, then, I don't have many so they are not a pest. But I move them sometimes, and always find myself saying "Sorry wee darling" Perhaps that's why they don't eat my plants. ;D Karma

[Chuckles]

I'm far to soft for my own good when it comes to plants in the garden. Nothing gets outed until I'm aboslutely sure it's popped its cloggs. I'm too soft and don't prune things hard enough sometimes, then when needs must and I have to give things a really severe chop because they've gone straggly I could kick myself for not doing it earlier. The worst/softest thing I used to do was always always put at least 10 cuttings in from anything I pruned. I've just recently got rid of loads of small pots of stuff that are weak and will never really do any good, felt quite good afterwards, think I may be toughening up ;D

As far as thinning seedling out and throwing the weak ones away I can't sow in seed trays anymore because I couldn't throw the weedy ones out. I now try and sow individual seeds where possible.

had to take a large brach off my Iceburg climbing rose the other day, every flower and bud got put in a vase, couldn't bear to throw them away

Feel like I've been to confession ;D

[Shrubrose]

;D

[nightowl]

I am too soft These violas, which I bought half price at B & Q ages ago as a stopgap, should have been replaced by now with trailing geraniums.

But I can't bring myself to chuck them out all the time they are showing off like this

[Weeterrier]

NO, I wouldn't be throwing them out either, they look far too good. But if you wanted, you could take them out, cut them really hard back and plant them, with a good waterand a feed in your garden somewhere. They will grow again good as new.

As for hard pruning, I really go for it, as plants respond so well. Just think what we feel like after a really good haircut.

Yesterday, I decided that one of my Carex, which had become enormous, was looking really scruffy. Many would have tossed it, but not us
I got a big saw and cut it into pieces, scalped each piece and potted them up. But they look fabulous again before long.

Now, if only I could have learned to treat men in that fashion. In that department I was FAR TOO SOFT.

[magrich]

isn't it great to find that you are not the only 'softie' ? I look around gardens near where I live and can see 'my babies' every where. I think some people might be sick of the sight of me coming up the path with little pots ( or big ones) of things I have had to cut back or divide, but I just try to think of the money i am saving them , and the fact that I have managed ,once again, not to just throw things out.

[Weeterrier]

I've been looking at my borders tonight, and this winter I shall have to lift and divide huge clumps of Hemerocallis, they are so congested that they are hardly flowering. I'm already wondering who I know that would have space for them. I may have to resort to cutting out another bed for the lady whose garden I do. God help her, if I ever retire, she'll never manage. She has hardly any grass left