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Gardening

Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

Massively overgrown abelia

1 reply

LaPetitePouleRousse · 09/03/2025 11:46

I've neglected my garden due to illness and recovery for a couple of years... so it's my fault, but I am now having to rehabilitate it, starting with an abelia that is about 6 feet high and spreading over my garden, including my little pond (previous owner located it under a couple of shrubs, it's a leaf soup - that's my next job...).

Anyway - the abelia! Is it okay to cut it back now (early March)? Can I go really hard on it? And how do I deal with the impenetrable tangle of stems underneath - what's the best tool to cut these please?

There will be more questions, but I'm trying to go one issue at a time - I'm an absolute beginner, but I want to remember that my garden is a lovely gift, an opportunity to learn, not an overwhelming and daunting chore! 😄

OP posts:
ShrimpBoil · 09/03/2025 16:02

I would go a third out at the base with loppers - cut back a third hard, do the same next year and the year after. Then you'll still get flowers this year and lovely new growth that you can manage.

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