Overcrowded, Overpruned Shrubs and How to Avoid Them
Have you ever seen shrubs that have been planted too closely together?
At first glance, it looks like the new plants in the landscape above fit just fine into this area.
But, what if I told you that those small shrubs grow 6 feet high and wide at maturity?
As they grow, out come the hedge trimmers, and over-pruned, ugly shrubs are the result.
Unfortunately, this is a problem that has reached almost epidemic proportions in areas throughout the Southwest.
Why else would people prune beautiful flowering shrubs into something that resembles anonymous, green blobs?
The good news is that you can avoid this from happening in your landscape. Even if you currently have overcrowded shrubs, you can solve the problem.
I recently wrote an article for Houzz.com on how to avoid overcrowded and the resulting over-pruning…
I hope that you find this article helpful – I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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Noelle Johnson, aka, 'AZ Plant Lady' is a author, horticulturist, and landscape consultant who helps people learn how to create, grow, and maintain beautiful desert gardens that thrive in a hot, dry climate. She does this through her consulting services, her online class Desert Gardening 101, and her monthly membership club, Through the Garden Gate. As she likes to tell desert-dwellers, "Gardening in the desert isn't hard, but it is different."
A classic article – thanks! Eventually we'll get through – I'm starting to use dollar figures and not aesthetics, but need to bone up on that more.
Plants do grow and water(ing too much) is an herbicide…
Though ultimately it comes back to aesthetics, flowering, form, etc. Good job, Noelle.