Badly pruned heather

hi scotsgran, it will grow back I'm sure :))

I fear not Mark. I am going to have to find a way of disguising it.

When out fo ra walk yesterday I noticed a grden like thsi badly pruned Sheila.

That's a shame. What did you do about it ?

This is it at present. I am not sure yet how to tackle it. I could cut all the brown stems away allowing the heather that is alright to grow and fill the space but Iam not sure if that would be right. Because it was planted about 20 years ago it has probably come to the end of its life but the thought of having to dig it all out and start again is daunting. We planted approx 175 plants in this patch with 9" between them so that we would have this attractive winter flowering rockery. I will let it flower and take some time to think about it. When I first planted it I would not have had a clue about rooting cuttings but 20 years on I could regenerate those plants by replanting them somewhere else and allowing the bare stems to send out roots and shoots. I am not sure what is resident beneath the heathers either. We put in massive pieces of stone with two thirds of the stone buried to replicate the natural growing conditions of heather. At one point we were over run by rabbits and they did burrow under the rockery sending out large amounts of soil. We have stoats around they could be in there. The heather is a feeding ground for bumble bees. They nest in the ground and could be in here. A wren goes flitting around that area as does a robin. They too could be residents. The heather would grow over the brown bits but it would then cover the path which we are now having to concede was never wide enough in the first place so we could let that happen and dig up the bulbs that are there and widen the path. I shall have a ponder and leave it for another day. We are in the middle of trying to sort out the mess in the back garden at the moment. It is unfortunate that it is visible to every visitor because it is on the north side of the entrance drive.

I thought the other picture was of this aswell but I must have made a mistake. I had lots of heather in my front garden when I lived in the old cottage, but it grew into a big ugly mat, so I got rid of it.
It must be difficult for you to decide what to do.

I keep forgetting to click on 'add comment' Hywel. If you look at my next photo it is of this area but taken in an earlier year. In the Spring when the daffodils are out it is very pretty. You really do need to prune it annually if you want it to be always looking good. It is very easy to care for apart from its once a year haircut.

Sorry I clicked like I thought that was earth ready for planting some thing in as I know you ve been busy like a Jack in the Box lol Oh what a heart brake. I did read Anchormans photo that once the green cut off they don't come back, what about aubritia differnt colours to replace and Alysum inbetween which would cover the ground like the heathers, even though I do love heathers, they have wonderful colours in them and easy to keep compared with other plants.

I do want to stick to heathers as this has not given problems at all over the years since i first planted it. I'm sure I will find a solution. It just has not surfaced yet. it is good to discuss this with other gardeners who are often coming at a problem from a completely different angle. Don't worry that you thought it was soil because I often think it would be nice if the photos were a bit bigger so you could see them more clearly.

In the past I have found it easy to just pull out lifting with a fork first then pull the roots seem stragling, not deep. I hope you can replace them with some more heathers as it would suit the rest.

I do hope so.Thankyou

Your welcome :o))