Q Could you give me a pointer on pruning our eleagnus bushes?
A Eleagnus is a great hedge or foundation plant. If it is growing too tall, it can be height-controlled by selective pruning. I personally don’t like the looks of a sheared plant, but prefer a more natural look with selective branch pruning. If you need to take off more than a third, do so quickly to allow for new growth to kick in.
Eleagnus are notorious for having a “bad hair day” two or three times a season. They send up huge sprouts periodically that need to be sheared and managed.
Other than that, they are great plants with fabulously fragrant flowers in the fall.
QI live in Little Rock and have a gardenia bush that is about 5 feet tall. It got severe winter damage, and a lot of the leaves are dead. Today I trimmed a large amount of the branches. I cut out close to 50 percent of the bush. Should I go ahead and shape it, or wait until new growth sets in? I hope I did right by cutting out the damage.
I hope the cold weather is behind us at this late date.
AI have not pruned, since I am waiting and praying that the damage I have on my gardenias is minimal and they will still bloom this summer. That might be wishful thinking. Remember that when a gardenia heads into winter, it has its flower buds set. If it gets nipped back or pruned back, it won’t bloom this year - except for, hopefully, a few late, late blooms. Since you have already cut half of the bush, I see no reason to wait to shape - you cut off any potential flowers. We had a few more nippy days last week, but hopefully that is the end of it. Fertilize when you see a lot of new growth coming on, and give your plant some TLC this summer to help it recover. Some gardenias have been frozen back to the soil line, but we can hope that all begin to regrow soon.
The saving grace is that a flowering plant that doesn’t flower does produce copious amounts of foliage and so should rebound quickly.
Q My father, who lives in Kansas City, Mo., has three Concord grape plants he wants me to have (passed on from his father). When should I attempt to move these plants to Arkansas? I live on Lake Windsor in Bella Vista. How close to the lake can I plant without worrying about the occasional flood harming the roots? Also, preparing our rocky soil has me worried. I know lime applications are called for, but is that just when first transplanting? Thank you for any help. I’m definitely out of my comfort zone with grapes.
A If your soil is extremely rocky, consider building a raised bed to plant them in, along with a trellis for them to grow on. This will also alleviate concern about flooding. Have your soil tested before adding lime. Lime is only needed if your soil is too acidic.
Liming without knowing the amounts needed can cause damage. Make sure that where you plant the grapes, they get a minimum of six hours of sunlight. I would move the plants soon, before they begin active growth.
Now is the time to prune grape vines, so prune and move at the same time. They do need annual pruning as well.
Q I need to divide hosta plants. When and how should I do so? Do I trim my rose of Sharon, and doI need to eliminate some of the plants? I have 14 in a row (line) that provide privacy.
A As soon as you see life beginning in your hosta, you can start dividing.
Dig up the clump and separate it. Try to leave at least two to three crowns per division. A crown is a cluster of leaves that comes from the base. If you over-divide, and plant each crown individually, you won’t have a nice, full plant this growing season.
As to your rose of Sharon, or althea, if you want to manage plant height, now is the time to prune them. They bloom on the new growth, so pruning needs to be accomplished before they are kicking into full foliage. You do not mention how much spacing is between the 14 plants. If they have enough room to grow unhindered from competition, then there is no reason to thin them. If they aren’t blooming well because they are too crowded, you may want to remove a few plants to allow the full potential of the remaining plants to come through.
Janet Carson is a horticulture specialist for the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. Write to her at 2301 S. University Ave., Little Rock, Ark. 72204 or email her at
HomeStyle, Pages 33 on 03/29/2014