Giant Hebe
Hi, I have a hebe in my garden that is proving to be a bit of a mystery/phenomenon! It is over 3m in every dimension and I believe that they are only ever meant to be an average size shrub. To give you some idea of perspective the hebe is against a 5ft fence. I am just an ameteur gardener so would be interested to read any comments you may have! Many thanks
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My goodness, I have never seen such large hebe. And I thought mine was spreading a lot, this one make mine look-----well, small. I always give mine a trim in the spring and it alway flowers its socks off every year. Yours is such a beauty it would be a shame to take it down. Sorry I haven't been much help in telling you what you should do, but it is just stunning.
You can drastically reduce their size, for a while, by firm pruning. I've done it & providing you dont do it much later than early August, to allow it to settle before the colder weather, it should cope quite well. I'd always take cuttings & check they've taken first before I got the pruning saw out though. So that would mean next year now to do a really hard prune.
Yours is such a feature & obviously very happy though I'd be inclined to let it be. BTW bees usually love them too. J.
Yes I have grown to love my hebe, after wanting to prune it right back I now see it for the beautiful feature that it is. Would be nice to know if anyone else has one this big!
I so envy you. We have been told that there is no such thing as a hebe that big. We would love to have a white and a purple one that size to give us privacy as well as beauty.
Father-in-law had a white hebe that made your pic look dwarf in comparison. Trouble was, he didn't prune it at all, and wouldn't let anyone touch it. It then became a monster, totally out of control, and overhung the steep path to the top of the garden. But cuttings taken and regular pruning has kept it in check in my own garden. So I think the advice about regular pruning is wise. Here in Somerset I can prune at (almost) any time, since the climate is pretty benign. Colder areas would need a more circumspect approach!
I wouldn't suggest giving your hebe too hard of a prune. It has such a nice shape, perhaps just to lightly trim off some of the growth after flowering to keep shape and size.
What a lovely specimen. Lucky you!
Think Bejabo has either pruned the Hebe or it's taken over the entire garden - the thread was three years ago...
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...