Greetings all!
I live in a fairly hot and dry part of California, USA, and have for the last few years grown a nice garden of drought-tolerant, native- or mediterranean-type plants. These include a variety of sages, rock roses, rosemary, lavender, malva, lavatera, germander, etc. Most of the plants are doing pretty well, though it is apparent that we probably planted some plants too close together and are having to move some.
One gardening skill I have never developed is the art and craft of pruning. I virtually never prune anything (though my wife does sometimes prune things like the Mexican sage). Is there some online source that will provide for me a set of general pruning guidelines -- when to do it, how to do it, when to avoid it, what plants need what
-- just to get me started?
The specific plant I had a question about is the California Blue Sage. We planted a few of them a few years ago, and they barely got going at all; we thought our soil was just too hard or something. Then, sometime last year, they just got HUGE (crowding neighboring plants, regrettably) and put forth a spectacular display of flowers in Spring. Now the branches look like dried sticks. I know some sages (like Mex sage) get pruned when new growth comes in in Spring, but this kind of sage (clevelandii, I think) doesn't follow the same growth pattern. Any thoughts?
Chuck
P.S. I'm just about to transplant an acacia redolens that I planted a couple years ago, and which is starting to crowd out neighbors. Any thoughts as to well these guys tolerant transplanting?