In front of our garage we have a nandina. I’m not a huge fan of nandinas normally but I’ve grown accustomed to the one we have, besides it saved my mower and our house once! I’ve never done any real maintenance to it and it has performed great in the front garden. It was due for a pruning so I grabbed my pruners and went to work.
I pruned out a few main branches that were beginning to overcrowd the area and limbed up the stalks to reveal the trunks of the nandina. (Limbing up is just where you remove small unnecessary limbs to encourage growth in other directions.) I made sure to balance the foliage between the two windows by cutting out the whole stalk at the ground where needed. Now the plants underneath like the phlox and ‘Mediteranean White’ Heath can see the sun!
This should open up a little more planting space underneath! Do you think I should limb up the nandina a little more or is it good as it is now?
Wow you're good Dave! Doesn't even look like the same bush. I think it looks good the way it is, but hey, its yours to do with as you wish!
I'm always lopping off the tops of mine, just before they bloom because I want the berries, because they are in front of windows.I love them because they will produce their lovely red berries in shade.
Donna
I think you made it look very nice, Dave. Certainly did open up some planting space beneath it.
Looks good Dave.
I agree, it looks good. How tall does it get?
We have quite a lot of these, because of their semi-evergreen foliage and because they bear lots of red berries all winter long – even in part shade.
Now that ours are several years old and have fully established root systems they grow like gang busters – too fast for my lazy ways. I pruned them severely last spring (so that they would have time to set berries) and they have grown almost 4 vertical feet since then. Too tall for the place they are in.
They are great plants as long as you know what to expect, and place them accordingly. Awesome for an informal privacy fence.
Good job shaping yours up – I hope you didn't tick it off. I'm a hack when it comes to ornamentals.
It looks great. I've started pruning more of my large shrubs that way, it really opens them up and as you say, more planting below.