Kerria Japonica Pruning
BenDover
Posts: 484
Flowers have started to go over, with poms poms going or gone white. Gone a bit straggly and wild looking. Good time to prune? How far back should I go? Some stems appear to be over 12 foot tall. but want to make it more manageable. Also want to encourage some new shoots from the ground to thicken it up.
0
Posts
Hi Tim
This is a useful link to give you all the information you need:
https://www.rhs.org.uk/Advice/profile?PID=197
Perfect - thank you. Now, where's the secateurs!
Hmmmm if there anywhere like mine they'll be in the green recycling bin!
Kerrias are incredibly vigorous and I'd cut it at least a couple of feet (or more!) lower than the desired height to encourage new growth. Within a couple of months, the foliage will be reaching for the skies again and may need another trim before next years buds appear.
To be honest, mine isn't that vigorous, although as I say, it has gone a bit wild, but that's mainly because I haven't really managed it in prior years. Although I planted it over 5 years ago, it hasn't really clumped up much. Somebody told me it would be rampant and spread out quite quickly from where I planted it, but its not really done that much. I wonder if its because where I planted it (in front of a fence and therefore quite dry), it has kept it in check. The soil is a light loam so its not like the ground has stopped it from creeping far like it might be more restricted in a more clay/heavy loam soil.
Maybe the free-draining soil has kept it under control. Around here, the soil is predominently heavy clay and in damp (and often very shaded) gardens, it grows like crazy. In one customer's garden, it needs lowering down to her fence height a foot or so every month from late Spring until Autumn. The shoots from the ground spring up all over the place.
Should probably count myself lucky then!