Pyracantha removal

Hi All

There is a a small Pyracantha shrub growing on the edge of a bed, not sure how it got there as I doubt anyone specifically planted it.

Anyway, for the sake of symmetry I want to remove it.

What is the best way to kill it off?
It looks like it would be difficult to dig out, as the roots are intertwining with a Heavenly Bamboo plant.

 

Shame. Pyracantha provide flowers for bees and berries for birds. Bamboo just spreads and makes a nuisance of itself. But just chop the pyracantha off at ground level and wait for the odd shoot to appear and chop that off at ground level. It can’t live long with no leaves. Shame.

 

Just watch out for the thorns on the pyracantha.
Heavenly (Sacred) Bamboo called Nandina domestica is not a bamboo as such it just looks similar.
RHS describe it as "A small, upright, elegant evergreen shrub with a bamboo-like habit to around 2m in height, with compound leaves and lanceolate leaflets which are purplish when young and in winter. Small white flowers in large panicles appear in summer, followed by red berries"

 

If the pyracantha is small you could probably just pull it out (but agreeing with Nigel, the thorns can be nasty).

At this time of year you can lift and move perennials easily, so you could plant it elsewhere if you wished. For this you might want to gently try and lift it with a garden fork, which would disturb the nandina a bit, depending on how much they are intertwined, but gentle forking shouldn't do much damage.

 

Hi @BOSullivan, Thevictorian is right, a fork job should be doable. Replace the soil with good compost perhaps mixed with some fertilising stuff such as Blood, Fish and bone, rotted manure or granular feed, water well and the Nandina should be just fine.

If the Pyracantha is healthy, you could pot it up and see if you like it throughout the year (I remember you have a new garden). Pyracanthas are mostly evergreen, take well to pruning so worth giving it a try in a patio pot.

 

I love Pyracanthas and, if I am being honest, don't really care for Nandinas, though I understand your point about symmetry @BOSullivan. If there is enough space, how about you plant a Pyracantha on the other side as well, to achieve the symmetry?

Jokes aside, if you don't want the pyracantha, I still think it's worth trying to dig out, and just being careful with the roots. You could then move it to a cheap plastic pot and give it to someone else. There are people in local Facebook groups that would happily collect if it's free.

 

Not a fan of symmetry, in my garden, I'd keep the Pyracantha and plant something different opposite then I have two plants not one plant twice.

 

Just chop it off at the bottom, as low as you can.

 

It's a personal preference of course, a garden should reflect its owner.

Generally speaking, most people recommend repetition in odd numbers rather than symmetry. I think symmetry does make sense in some scenarios though. For instance, to the right and left of a structure.

 

The problem with symmetry in a garden is when one of the plants doesn't develop at the same rate or shape as the other. This would bother those that like symmetry . For that reason I no longer place identical pots and plants beside my front door. One plant inevitably refuses to obey the rules .

 

That's a good point @Plantminded. When I attempted something like that with Cosmos (it was actually four of them in a border), the results were completely inconsistent, the differences between them were huge.

I do however have a Calamagrostis Karl Foerster on each side of a patio circle, and I love the effect. They grow fairly similar.

I have also recently planted a Chaenomeles "Crimson and Gold" in front of each side of a metal archway. They are already not identical and I don't expect them to be, but I still appreciate the repetition in foliage, growth style and flowers. If one of them gets excessively bigger than the other, I can reduce the difference via pruning - again, without expecting an exact mirror image. If the plants are part of a border there's less focus on each one, and if the differences between them aren't over the top, I think the result can still be good.

 

Yes, Calamagrostis Karl Foerster is a dependable one for similar growth @CostasK. I have a hedge of about 15 plants in my front garden and they grow to the identical height every year. A self limiting hedge that only needs chopping down once a year .

 

Thanks. There is already plenty of Pyracantha elsewhere in the garden, and it is in quite an inconvenient spot right on the edge of the bed, so symmetry is an issue.

 

I understand where you're coming from, but there is already a symmetry in this area (either side of steps) so it is an issue

 

After chopping out a 40yr old pyracantha last summer I'd never entertain the stuff, it was in a neighbours garden.
Diabolical stuff.