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Maintaining scotch broom?

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  • 24-10-2019 2:48pm
    #1
    macraignil
    Registered Users Posts: 3,442 ✭✭✭


    Here is a clip of two scotch broom plants I have in a prominent spot outside my living room window. They have produced a good show of flowers in early summer up until this year when they failed to flower properly and now there are a number of branches that have lost their green colour and are more yellow and look to be less vigorous with only a small number of leaf buds. I would like to keep the plants since they produce such a nice show of flowers but on reading up on the topic the advice seems to be that they need to be pruned when they are younger rather than later and another garden advice site said that they can commonly be short lived. Here is a clip of how they look now. Any advice on what is the best way forward would be appreciated. I have cut out some of the dead branches but should I be more aggressive in cutting them back? One site said that pruning mature plants can kill them but I don't want to be looking at branches as they die back so is it worth the risk?


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    #2
    standardg60
    Registered Users Posts: 4,694 ✭✭✭standardg60


    Hi personally i would just remove the dying one as there's usually no way back once they show those signs, better to get a new one in than to wait. It's very rare that they regrow from old wood anyway.

    As for pruning yes it's best to start when they are young but the other two are not too leggy yet. Basically they need to be trimmed back as soon as the flowers start to fade, about two thirds of the way down the flowering stem.

    Edit..sorry i see now there are only two plants, the dying branches should certainly be cut out now and then maybe see how the healthy stems do over the winter.


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    #3
    looksee
    Registered Users Posts: 28,433 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    Brooms do tend to be short lived. They are easy enough to grow from seed and propagating new ones is the way to go if you have a nice plant. If the ones you have are as dead as the video suggests then dig them out and start again, they are not something you can revive.


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    #4
    macraignil
    Registered Users Posts: 3,442 ✭✭✭macraignil


    Thanks very much for the replies.

    I will give them another cut back in the hope they will regrow. It's a fairly contested spot next to an existing hedge so might not be viable to just start again from new plants in the same spot. There have already been some offspring that I have moved to elsewhere in the garden so even if it does not work in reviving them there will still be some nice broom plants elsewhere.


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