Last year I neglected several of my large spirea, including the Spiraea japonica 'Alpina' (Japanese Spirea - aka 'Nana') located on the corner of the garage that was first planted in 2013.
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| 2013 |
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| 2018 |
By 2018, it was one of my best formed spirea. I had learned that in order to keep its shape, one needs to trim it two or three time each summer. Sometimes it meant cutting it as it was flowering, but doing so kept it from getting too stringy and out of shape.
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| 2021 |
Alas, I was to busy with fence repairs and other tasks, I neglected to keep up with the trimming, and by the fall it was stringy and woody, and when I trimmed and removed dead wood, it had basically became a sickly looking shrub. I left it for this summer, and although it recovered slightly, it was still a mess.
I have had this problem elsewhere with other spirea and have learned that cutting it down and relocating it to a better, more sunny location can slowly help bring the shrub back. In fact, I had been spending the last two year rehabilitating a spirea out in the front yard island. It has now do so well that I had to move it out of the island.
It had grown too large for that location. However, I was able to shape it into a more globe like shrub. So, I decided to switch the two spirea, the newly healed and shaped one would be moved to the garage corner, and what was left of the 'Nana' would move out to the front island.
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| Rehabilitated spirea moved to garage corner |
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| Spirea 'Nana' moved to the front island |
The 'Nana' is in bad shape, but no worse than the shrub it is being switched with when I first moved that other spirea to the island two years ago.
If all goes to plan, the "Nana' should get better while the spirea at the corner continues to fill in that prominent location in the garden.
Only time will tell.
