#stooling

Plant of the Day

Tuesday 7 July 2026

This Cotinus 'Grace' (smoke tree) is being hard pruned (stooled) every winter resulting in this vigorous, strongly coloured new growth.

Plant of the Day

Monday 10 January 2022

The deciduous shrub Cornus sanguinea 'Anny's Winter Orange' (dogwood) has long since lost the orange-yellow leaves of autumn but these have fallen to reveal beautiful, red-tipped, orange-red winter stems. A great addition to the winter garden, the young stems have the strongest colour so some will be pruned before spring.

Plant of the Day

Thursday 7 January 2021

In the Winter Garden at the Royal Horticultural Society Garden Hyde Hall, Essex, the Salix alba var. vitellina 'Britzensis' (scarlet willow, coral bark willow) are stooled (coppiced) to a ‘leg’ (short trunk) to encourage the brightly coloured stems. This season’s growth has been tied into these swirling shapes as part of the winter display and the growth will be cut off in the early spring prior to the leaves emerging.

Plant of the Day

Monday 23 November 2020

Tussocks of Molinia caerulea subsp. caerulea 'Edith Dudszus' (purple moor-grass) turn orange-yellow by late autumn. This cultivar has been selected from the British native Molinia caerulea for the purplish brown to almost black flower stems and dense flower spikes. In the border this grass echos the shape and colour of the stooled (pruned) Salix alba var. vitellina (golden willow) stems.

Plant of the Day

Wednesday 1 April 2020

The production stock beds for Salix alba 'Caerulea' (cricket-bat willow) have been harvested near where I live in Essex, UK. The willow sets (unrooted standards which are long cut stems) are normally grown from stools these are allowed to grow and are cropped every fourth year. Young trees from this type of production grow on the banks of my local river and form avenues on farm land.

Plant of the Day

Wednesday 26 February 2020

There was a strong contrast between the sculptural Taxus baccata (yew) hedge and the vibrant stems of the Salix (willow) and Cornus (dogwood) cultivars. The stems of Salix daphnoides 'Aglaia' (violet willow) were producing silver catkins and at ground level Lathraea clandestina (purple toothwort) was flowering, which is a parasitic plant on the roots of willow.

Plant of the Day

Friday 21 June 2019

The colourful new foliage of Cotinus 'Grace' (smoke tree) is a result of hard pruning (stooling) this deciduous shrub in the winter. The vibrant crimson-purple leaves were offset by the adjacent violet-blue flowers of the herbaceous perennial Salvia nemorosa 'Ostfriesland' (Balkan clary) which flowers through the summer and into the autumn.

Plant of the Day

Saturday 16 February 2019

A great combination of stem colours provide plenty of winter interest with the orange of Cornus sanguinea 'Midwinter Fire' (dogwood), the deep red of Cornus alba 'Sibirica Ruby' (dogwood) and blending with the white of Rubus cockburnianus (white-stemmed bramble). All on display as part of the winter display planting at the Royal Horticultural Society Garden Wisley, Surrey, UK.