Cotinus- an irritating plant

Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple'- the purple leaved smoke bush is a stunning foliage shrub with rich coppery purple foliage and masses of curious small flowers in summer that appear as a haze of smoke. Like many foliage plants, the colour of the leaves is best on young growths and that may necessitate hard pruning. This pruning is best carried out in spring as soon as growth commences.

So why is the plant irritating?   The problem is that the plant is related to the notorious poison ivy of North America. If sap exposed by pruning cuts comes into contact with your skin, you may suffer nasty and long-lasting irritation. There is no need to panic, just ensure that you wear long sleeves and protective gloves when pruning this plant and avoid carrying out this operation on a sunny day as the sap can cause hypersensitivity to sunlight. 

I also find that the sap can coat pruning tools such as saws so clean them carefully after use. 

Large pruning cuts of Cotinus should be treated with care to avoid possible irritation. 

THE ARS long reach pruner

I love using quality tools and avoid using ladders at all costs when pruning. This is particularly true if the ground is uneven or soft, as it often is in rain soaked Wales. When I needed to reduce the height of this over vigorous specimen of Cotoneaster salicifolius growing on a steep bank, I reached for my ARS long reach pruner and did the job from the safety of a level terrace. 

The tool was not cheap, it cost me nearly £100 but I never regret investing in quality. I have a Bahco long reach pruner that cost about the same amount but it is less convenient to use as the cutting mechanism is operated by a pull cord that annoying wraps itself around  the shaft of the tool and needs frequent untangling. 

The ARS pruner is like a giant pair of secateurs in which the handles are separated from the blades by a long, lightweight shaft. The tool cuts cleanly and I keep the blades sharpened (please see my earlier posts about sharpening). It is worth remembering that this is a modified pair of secateurs and so should never be allowed to cut thick stems. The Bahco pruners can cope with a little more abuse and if they cannot cope, I use my trusty Silky Fox Zubat pole saw. 

My ARS pruner is an invaluable part of my pruning toolkit. 

Putting gooseberry prunings to good use

I recently bought and planted some gooseberry bushes and cut back the main stems to promote bushiness, Rather than wasting the prunings, I inserted them into a pot of growing compost and left them to root. A month or so later, all have rooted with no requirement for rooting compound or special care and attention. The pot was left outside and watered by our generous rainfall. Blackcurrants, red and whitecurrants can be easily propagated from leafless previous season's growth taken from prunings.  In the case of blackcurrants which are very easy to propagate, make sure that healthy growth is selected without any signs of abnormally big buds indicating  gall mite damage. 

I obtained 100% success with these cuttings and all have started to grow strongly and will give me plants for my gooseberry hedge in the autumn. This is a good return on an investment of a few minutes of my time and a small quantity of potting compost. 

Hardwood cuttings of gooseberry made from prunings