Pruning Australian Native Plants on Real World Gardener

PLANT DOCTOR Pruning Native Plants <p>For some reason, many gardeners have been reluctant to prune their native plants, thinking that if they did, those plants might never recover or worse, just drop dead.</p>   Then there’s the gardener that’s reluctant to prune something that they’ve just planted because after all, they paid good money for that plant, so why should I cut off the top third as soon as I plant it?  Seems counter intuitive doesn’t it? If we look back at when native gardens first started to be in vogue in the 70's, this might have been true of many of the cultivars that were grown back then.   Plus, there was the theory that native gardens should be somewhat wild and untamed, much like they are in the bush.  <a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2W0kD59CxCsQUaMkrHfh7IW-AsfUYAQEw3Ewu0H62cvcZ0MjhijUx9d1hgQVQxdHEzE5DQJ_5wYmINEd2dStcWgtxyJ-kveVokKFvwalOW3nmIMzh4nIY1ciDEK7gWZXXMUqU4WYXD-pyK0sUO9AceKwVXYfsIBe4IDvorgGvZX5fsL76trOVN0v9Yg/s3008/G_Lollipops_bush.JPG'></a> Grevillea 'Lollipops' photo M Cannon All this did was result in a messy looking 'wild' garden which fell out of favour rather quickly, although not quick enough for some.   <a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8NZQF9Apd8Y6b7WOiUWwgNLvDc2Bfbm6PUeBXvSvVAhiOKW58I8HttP31tyHF0nZ5Nu2IUDXkqtpln1Dxw-1t7xqepq6FmxV_3MB2qXjvLHLE_y8MDQSiM0xqaHe9tHCUzmVUWVnDZ1yD-O-DgW5Nrf_XHnns0dC3GwLBG_lEoiu1xDKXAGKNLwP8uw/s1920/grevillea%20superb.jpg'></a> Grevillea 'Superb' photo M Cannon Fast forward to the 21st century, and by now, many native plants have been selectively bred or hybridised to produce much healthier, stronger native plants that not only can be pruned but should be pruned to look their best. So how should we prune our native plants? Steve and I are not saying that you need to clip everything into a ball to make it look like a formal garden. Not at all, but you do need to clip plants to reign them in so you have some control over their growth. General rule: Prune after flowering A