Old Blush shrubs. Do you ever prune them?

10 years ago

last modified: 10 years ago

What do you do with your Old Blush shrubs? Prune them a bit, just trim them or you do nothing apart from removing dead canes (if you're brave enough to reach within one)?

I have a wild small hedgelike row of 5 OBs planted 3-4 feet apart and I'm not sure what to do with it.. The plants are wide enough to mingle with each other and about 4-5 feet tall.

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Comments (5)

Melissa Northern Italy zone 8
10 years ago
I cut out old and damaged growth and leave it at that.
nikthegreek thanked Melissa Northern Italy zone 8
nikthegreek
Original Author
10 years ago
Melissa, what is 'old growth' on a China like this? Do you remove whole older canes from the base?
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Melissa Northern Italy zone 8
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Yes, exactly. In fact I need to do this on my plants right now, since I've neglected their pruning for some years.
nikthegreek thanked Melissa Northern Italy zone 8
User
10 years ago
I second Melissa (I have the climbers). I try to remove very old canes that have a lot of weak/dead/ exhausted material on them.
nikthegreek thanked User
jerijen
10 years ago
And I do the same thing. Many years, I do nothing. After 4 years of drought, they have any number of dead canes. I cut those out, and leave the plant to fill in with new growth.

I did that about 4 months ago to "The China From Adina" (which is probably a self-seedling or sport of 'Old Blush.'

It's fuller now than it was a week or more ago, when I took this:

It has now pushed up many new canes and is going into a good flush of bloom. There is NO old-dead growth on the plant, and it's 4.5-ft. tall, or a bit taller.
nikthegreek thanked jerijen