Hebe - move into pots?

awec

I have a couple of Hebes in my very small bed. Unfortunately I've let them grow much bigger than I want, they're about 1 metre spread and are totally dominating the space and starting to encroach on the footpath and driveway. They were planted about 3 years ago.

To trim them back to a neat shape and to the size I want would involve cutting right back to woody branches I think, would this even work? Would they ever flower again, or would they basically have to regrow back to size before they flowered?

Would these survive being dug out of the bed and put into a large pot each? I have space for them elsewhere if this is a viable option!

looksee

You can cut them hard back and you can transplant them. I don't think I would do both at the same time. I am less enthused about operating on hebes than most of the garden pundits, they are a fairly short lived plant and can suddenly die on you. Don't hard cut back the entire bush in one go, take about a third of it back then next season another third etc. If you want to move them just take off some new growth (which you would do when transplanting pretty much any plant) then leave it to settle for a season before reducing it some more.

awec

@looksee when you say season, do you mean literal season like spring summer etc?

Sorry if this is a silly question

looksee

I never thought about that! In that sense I mean a year, one spring season - or the season for pruning - passes and on the next one you prune again. Its a rather confusing notion I agree.