Long live prunings
/I am the first to put my hand up for pruning my roses “too late”. For choosing to tidy up the plum trees when they have already started to fruit (blasphemy!) and driving the idea to lop down some pittosporums that have struggled away growing in a really unfriendly spot for years.
This is one of the few areas I have stumbled upon “garden guilt”.
The uncomfortable feeling knowing my gardeny neighbours will be lamenting my scraggly, struggling Icebergs at the front of my house. Feebly attempting their new growth while still supporting rosehips that haven’t left home, or been tidied up by their neglectful owner.
“But life!”, I scream internally (or sometimes from behind my window aimed at the street). Busy lives do pile things in front of rose pruning and seasonally correct tree tidy ups but lucky for me, and my fellow busy new gardeners, mother nature isn’t so staunch on it all.
For disorganised beginners she has programmed all her flora to just want to grow, meaning if we are late or mis timed with our chopping, more often than not, everything will be ok.
Cleaning up pittosporum prunings to give away to my local florist to uti
Alicia of Bunch Floral picking up her magnolia prunings.
Rose pruning’s in the office
When you do finally make time to tackle the job, the inevitable piles of prunings however do come with their own layers of guilt. I hear you brilliant composters chirping up from down your long driveways! Composting or mulching my “green waste” is of course preferred. For many of us urban gardeners where ground space is at a premium we simply don’t have the means to deal with it all and certainly not the big stuff. Lucky for us here in Christchurch we do have a fabulous green waste collection and depot where we can drop our green off for a fee and it will be transformed into compost for the future.
Another way I have found to balance out the garden guilt is to celebrate my prunings.
Firstly, I’ve adopted some local florists.
As arms of massacred magnolia lay slain on the lawn, I’ve fired off pictures to my favourite local florists, hunting for some “life after death” for my green friends. This also worked well for the pittosporum that lived on as the delicate green support act in bunches for sale. As a florist groupie I find it incredibly satisfying to know that something no longer wanted in my garden could be combined into their creative work. And it’s a good turn and great use of foliage.
Secondly, I’ve made a real effort to use as many prunings as possible in my own home. As a fan of flowers on the kitchen table, I find limbs of trees or glossy late rose prunings offer a chance to scale up arrangements. The acid brightness of bendy spring growth, romance of apple blossom and even sacrificed premature plums look romantic and beautiful in a large vase.
Before you frown at my fruit pillaging, please know I have way too many plums going on in my backyard, and they certainly aren’t the yummy ones. And to reiterate, when the time combined with the equipment presents itself for a clean up, compromises simply have to be made.
A branch of apple blossom to cut down for the vase.
Apple and plum prunings soaking in water, waiting to be arranged.
My large french soup bowl purchased from Trade Me filled with water, chicken wire and then secured with florists’ specific “pot tape”.
In my playing around with prunings in vessels I’ve discovered a few things that might help you have a go too.
To assist woody stems in sucking up water, make a clean cut on a 45 degree angle then turn and cut again up the centre of the stem. This allows max surface area to get water to all those leaves!
A single limb looks fantastic as much as a wild collection, however take note of the increased weight of your branches and ensure you are using a hefty enough vessel.
Balled up chicken wire, squashed into your vase is helpful to keep limbs in place, especially if using a wider necked vase or bowl. However, you may need to run some strips of tape across the rim to make sure it doesn’t ping out along with your arrangement. I use florist specific “pot tape” I found online but I am sure you could experiment with other hardy tapes.
Prepare your stems for arranging by snipping off any leaves or branches that will be below the waterline of the vase. This helps keep the water fresh as well as making it easier to thread through chicken wire if you use it.
Consider where your arrangement will be viewed from. Do you need to make it look beautiful from all angles, or just the front if its “back” is to the wall.
I like to go for a swoopy, wild and asymmetric vibe by using the natural bends of each branch to my favour. Try to create the overall shape first then back fill with small pieces for detail and balance.
Top up water daily to keep them going! I find branches last really well if I do this.
Ultimately, this is just another way to connect the in with the out and enjoy what you can collect for free from your own small patch of green.
This article featured in my Stuff Homed gardening column online and in print on 15/10/2020
All words, imagery and video produced and copyright to Studio Home.
