Horticultural pursuits

Spring has sprung (Summer has sprung doesn't have the same lilt) in our neck of the woods - say I. It was in the 70s (Fahrenheit), yesterday, and is to reach the low- to mid- 80s, today; thus, about one week ahead of time, I placed the house plants on the front porch/steps for the summer.

The first three months of 2021 brought us weather that dithered between the extremes so much that it was damaging to some of our shrubbery. Slowly, I'm working toward taking out dead ones and renewing shrubs that are still alive but which have scraggly live branches left among the dead. It is slow work because I overheat when working out in temperatures above 60 degrees. Yesterday, I worked outside for an hour before coming in to (nearly) collapse. Once I cooled down, I was fine to go set up the hose with a sprinkler to continue watering trees - the dogwood trees and the trees along the driveway.

Two weeks ago, I took a hedge trimmer to the three (well...there are now four because one of the branches established itself with roots) spirea bushes - originally two Double Play Big Bang and one Magic Carpet. They are renewing, nicely (below).

Yesterday, I took the dead branches out of the Ivory Halo Dogwood bush, leaving a sparsely branched bush (below).

Today, I tackled the yew bush that has shielded one of the windows to my bedroom for the past eight years. Prior to that time, the window was to my sewing room. Unfortunately, I failed to think of photographing the dead bush before tackling it; but, this is what it looks like (below), now. When I have the energy, I will dig up the roots and rake up the rest of the leaves. Note that the majority of the dead leaves are pin oak leaves - off of trees in a neighbor's front yard across (and up the street one house) from us. BTW: The little green sprig is a pin oak seedling, of which I pull many. I may save this one in a pot to see if WichiDude & Dudette or Wonderful GrandDaughter & Rachie want it for their yard.

Below is a photo of the two trash carts full of dead yew branches from that bush. Only the blue cart will be picked up. I'll empty the small, green cart into the blue cart for pickup next week. The tan cart is the single-stream recyclables cart.

The next photo not only shows off another patch of Bogie's phlox progeny but shows the dead-looking butterfly bushes. Last year, I failed to cut down the branches in March and they sprouted leaves (and blossoms). I doubt that happens this year, but why not give it a shot?

ADDITIONS OF 5/1&2/2021 - One photo after cutting out the dead branches, and One photo of butterfly bushes as they appeared in July, 2012

BACK TO 2021: Finally, the photo below shows the sorry mess that comprises the holly bushes in front of one side of our house. I haven't quite figured out how to tackle it. The green bushes at the right end is a Hick's yew.

Comments

[Ole Phat Stu]

Sorry to hear about HH's problem from the previous post.

[bogie]

Unless you have a cultivar that is zone 9 (doubtful), the butterfly bushes should be fine. They always start late and need a fair amount of water. I usually don't cut back my butterfly bushes (zone 5), as reference.

[Cop Car]

Stu--Thanks. We play the cards we are dealt.

Bogie--I had read that one should cut back the branches in March to make way for the new ones, so I was surprised when the branches (that I had thought would be dead) gave forth life. Obviously, I've no idea what cultivar we have. I bought them from Lowe's in 2010. Actually, I bought Pink Delight and Nanho Purple, one or the other of which I think died several years ago; but, since I have no memory for colors, I can't tell you which color has survived. (If I had to guess: purple.) Note added photo from 2012.

As to water: The butterfly bushes get sprinkled with Zone 7 of our lawn's irrigation system.

[Cop Car]

I just came in from working on the butterfly bush. Indeed, all of the branches from previous years were dead; but, there were new, green branches coming up around the perimeter of the base. I took the dead branches out.

[bogie]

Butterfly bushes only bloom on new wood, which is why a lot of people cut them back. I am unsure why those branches would have died, your area doesn't get near cold enough to kill them. Maybe old branches only live for a couple of seasons?

[Cop Car]

I think I had read the online exposition on butterfly bushes that was put out by K-State Research & Extension. I did add an "after pruning" photo to the posting and note that I broke off the dead branches below ground level if they responded to a moderate amount of moment.