OT..Bunnies decimated my bridal veil spirea!
wendy2shoes
16 years ago
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norabelle
16 years agobrandymulvaine
16 years agoRelated Discussions
good spirea, bad? spirea
Comments (5)i dont have time to do it for you .. as to 2 .. google : bridal veil spirea and after 30 years at mom's house.. yes.. it has an ugly'ish form ... in less than full sun ... jammed against the house .. etc ... so what.. lol i think you are spot on.. comparing a plant with 10+ years growth.. to a recent transplant.. its just not fair .... ignore it for a few years.. then decide ken Here is a link that might be useful: i got curious...See MoreBridal Wreath Spirea of the Day
Comments (15)Of course! The spireas are easy and fast-growing- most of these have only been in the ground for just over 2 years now. I ordered them in 2 and 5 gallon sizes from Sperling Nursery in Calabasas. All of mine get a little shade at some part of the day, but the ones that get the most sun bloom the most. They do not require much water- all they get here is water from the lawn rainbirds twice a week for 20 minutes. I soaked them down twice last fall because we got so little rain and I wanted a big bloom this spring. I fertilize them in the winter with compost. I like to trim out the lowest branches to make them cascade, but they don't require any pruning. Gophers will eat the entire root system so you have to watch for them. They get really big- about eight feet across, but I don't know how tall they get because my oldest one was eaten by gophers. They are pretty nondescript shrubs for the rest of the year- the big bloom only lasts about a month. The foliage is small leaves that begin lime green and fade to a blue-green. The leaves get brown edges in hot inland valleys. The flowers on this variety, flore pleno, are so abundant that you cannot see foliage. No thorns, no invasive roots. Mikey says that they almost blind him at this time of year when he goes out in the early am to let the chickens out. They do not make very good cut flowers- the flowers droop too quickly. They are not fragile or brittle and so I like them better than azaleas (which cannot survive me, the dog, and Mikey and our big feet.) I planted over a dozen of them because they are so easy and showy. People say they are easy to propagate- they can send out runners, but they don't do that here since it is too dry....See MoreQ about bridal veil spirea
Comments (2)I'm not an expert but from my experience with my two, those vertical shoots will soon get long enough to droop over. So you get kind of a layered effect. It is a challenging shrub to prune to a planned shape - you can take off any shoots you think are too much. Don't turn it into a lightbulb tee hee! Someone down the street from me has a yard full of cotoneasters pruned into a flat hockey puck shape on a bare trunk. It's so awful I kinda like it!...See MoreReeves Spirea--advice needed
Comments (13)Bo, thanks for your thoughts and the story you shared about the beautiful spirea. That inspires me to try to keep these and take good care of them. I wonder if leaving them so close to the house is asking for trouble? I guess they've been like that all along...so...maybe they are actually fine? Like you said, I do need to have the gutter fixed. I think the problem may just be a clogged downspout. I know the gutters themselves are clear because my dad cleaned them less than 2 weeks ago. I was all excited about that until I saw the water pouring over the edge during our rainstorms this week. :( Thanks for the dishsoap reminder. I can definitely try that with some Dawn this year. Or the liquid seaweed like Danna suggested! Danna, I know ladybug larvae love to eat aphids but I have heard it's hard to keep the bugs where you release them and that they fly away at will. I would not be opposed to trying them sometime if the cost isn't too high. Your spirea is probably not long behind mine as you are in the same zone as I am, maybe a touch cooler. I'm pretty excited about the blooms on mine (see picture above) because they are so much more showy than last year! I think we did the right thing cutting them back! I was unsure about it until I saw the blooms this week! I guess I won't do much trimming since they are so little but I will deadhead them after the blooms get old. I guess with a pair of scissors? The stems are really thin and delicate still so I don't think I'll need anything heavy duty. Any thoughts on whether I need to do something to keep the branches or leaves from touching the ground?...See Morebusylizzy
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