Registered: Apr 2001
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man! (wonderaz or anyone please help)

I get a knock at the door right about when Im putting my midgets down for their nap, about to read them a book, and its some guy who asks if he can have some clippings of my camellia bush offering to prune it for me for free if he can keep the clippings. I said it didnt really need pruning but he could take some clippings.
I go back to the baby's room to read their book and there is a knock on the door again, he said the bush was in poor health and needed pruning. The bush was about12 foot high, nice and rounded...the best looking bush n my yard but I said ok. He went back to it, I went back to the kids room then remembered that bastard vine that grows on it and how it lights my ass up if it touches me and went to warn him. A quick glance at what he was doing left me comforted, he had thinned it out a bit but other than than no drastic change) he said thanks for the warning and I went to read the book for my kids and put them to bed. After Im done I go out to look at my bush. He was gone and so was 90% of the bush. It looks fucking awful. Now I dont know if thats how youre supposed to trim those, I know usually removing 1/3 of a bush at a time is what is recommended as to not kill the bush though. I looked at a few pages for camellia bushes and didn’t find anything that could help… moderate pruning suggestions and stuff....can anyone tell me if this is ok? Or what I should do to counter the bush going into shock?

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Beatrice, Nebraska
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You'll just have to wait and see, I think. But this late in the year I don't know if it'll do a great deal of harm.

Shit, I wish my cousin Vance were here. He graduated with a major in botany.

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I know you can root the branches right? He probably was being greedy rather than helpful...I should have got the name of the florist off the side of the van so I could call him up and let him know what a shit bag he is...if it turns out this isn’t the right way to trim these. It does have a bit of rot in one part...but I would think if he was being helpful he would have come back and told me that was the proper thing to do considering how lovely it was and what he has left me with.

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Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Texas
Posts: 2593

Can't.....hold.....back....

Confucious Say: Never let a strange man trim your bush.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Bangor, ME
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Find him, evicerate him, and eat his firstborn.

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Registered: Jul 2002
Location: Chelmsford, MA
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quote:

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Originally posted by Emerald
Can't.....hold.....back....

Confucious Say: Never let a strange man trim your bush.

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Humor rating of Emerald is suddenly increased.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Sedona, Arizona
Posts: 18823

It shouldn't kill the bush. They are fairly hardy and although he butchered the hell out of it, I would expect it to survive. Do you have a weeping willow nearby? If so, I can offer a bit of an aid to your bush.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Minneapolis, MN
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i don't get it, are these trimmings valuable or something? aside from some strange fetish why would a stranger want to trim your bush for you? (pun not intended)

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Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Oakland-ish
Posts: 6032

every year in the winter i cut back my raspberries and so on quite drastically, to the point where it looks like i've killed it. you are supposed to cut to the ground any vine that had berries on it.

anyhow, point is, i think it should be okay.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: NYC
Posts: 3598

Ack!

This reminds me of when i was little and my parents would "suggest that my hair needs trimming", take me to a chinese beauty salon and whisper things to the hairdresser. Then i would go home with half of my hair gone.

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Registered: Jul 2001
Location: Disgusting den of creepitude
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As a groundskeeper, methinks it should be alright, next spring it will probably get new growth and look even better, although smaller. Its a process called "rejuvination" and I do it from time to time on shrubs. You mention your location as "the peehole of justice" so I don't know what your climate would be, or if it makes a differance, but up 'round these parts, fall is the best time to do it, although it will look like shit for the next couple of months.

Last edited by Pinecrika on 10-07-2002 at 09:25 PM

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Registered: Jul 2000
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quote:

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Originally posted by Pinecrika
As a groundskeeper, methinks it should be alright, next spring it will probably get new growth and look even better, although smaller. Its a process called "rejuvination" and I do it from time to time on shrubs. You mention your location as "the peehole of justice" so I don't know what your climate would be, or if it makes a differance, but up 'round these parts, fall is the best time to do it, although it will look like shit for the next couple of months.

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Registered: Jul 2000
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quote:

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Originally posted by Pinecrika
You mention your location as "the peehole of justice" so I don't know what your climate would be

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Registered: Sep 2001
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Sticky peehole?

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i'm going to offer to trim peoples bushes, and then just start hacking them up with my katana and run away. haHa.

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Registered: Jul 2001
Location: Disgusting den of creepitude
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Upon further research(I had some time to kill anyway) the book I looked in recomended an early spring pruning. Since there is nothing that can be done about it now, just make sure it gets water and maybe a little fertilizer. If it really starts to get stressed, try talking to an arborist (the one that works here was gone today) or someone that might know more about trees and shrubs of that region of the country. All the damn books at work only dealt with plants of the Rocky Mountains and such, but what do you expect from a university in Idaho.

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Registered: May 2002
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Registered: Apr 2001
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Thanks for your help all, sorry I didn’t reply sooner.
I went outside to look again and noticed he had piled some of the branches next to the house...so maybe he was doing what e thought was best for the bush. Anyway I hurried my self to make a mini-greenhouse so I could try and propagate the branches rather than let them waste. The sheds in my yard are filled with junk from the old man who lived here before...its interesting junk though and he had some old windows which birthed my greenhouse So it wont be a loss...I gain new beebee plants...or at least thats what Im telling myself

I appreciate your time. Thanks again.

My new greenhouse yay!
(not done yet-have some gaps to fill with some flat rubber tubing of somesort he has out there.)

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Minneapolis, MN
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A: it's a fucking bush, who gives a shit?
B: what is so valuable about this bush that a stranger would want to trim it for you, and that youd actually build a greenhouse to SAVE THE FUCKING CLIPPINGS LIVES!!

i just don't get it, everyone acts like this is normal to freak out over a fucking bush as if your kids had smallpox or some shit. ITS A FUCKING BUSH!

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Registered: Jul 2000
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Dingle, my god man, it's a ***CAMELLIA*** bush, not a BUSH bush.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Dingle
A: it's a fucking bush, who gives a shit?
B: what is so valuable about this bush that a stranger would want to trim it for you, and that youd actually build a greenhouse to SAVE THE FUCKING CLIPPINGS LIVES!!

i just don't get it, everyone acts like this is normal to freak out over a fucking bush as if your kids had smallpox or some shit. ITS A FUCKING BUSH!

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I cried last time splat went after my trees...its just a thing with me. I have a guilt trip sometimes when I cut my grass thinking of all the creatures that live in it and what my blade might be doing to them and have to hurry and think of something else. I talk to trees and had a long discussion today with a lovely caterpillar about the nature of the world. it is why I’m not a vegetarian, because I love plants and think their lives are every bit as valuable and sometimes even more beautiful as anything else's...flame away!


This is the picture of the caterpillar, I called her Alice for the sake of conversation, its unfortunate the pictures didn’t come out better because she was gorgeous.

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Registered: Jul 2000
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By the way, I didn't know you could propagate them by cuttings.

Coincidentally, I have half a bin of camellia bush trimmings from yesterday's session with the wilderness that is sometimes known as my front yard. I don't want to grow them, I have enough camellias to water as it is.

I will mail them to you Dingle, and you can water them. You'll thank me later.

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quote:

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Originally posted by missphinx
By the way, I didn't know you could propagate them by cuttings.

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