I have these insane freak bushes in front of my house and I’m trying to figure out how to make them look less shitty. Do I cut everything off? Start over? Seek tells me that they are Greasewood and native to where I live (UT).
Seek is correct. These plants only grow in deeply saline/sodic soils, where very few other plants grow. You could trim slightly but they are unlikely to fill in very much. Try deep watering to encourage more growth.
Acceptable_Bat7232
Gasoline and a match
Tsaier
For some reason I find them charming, more TLC and Water? Maybe some mindful pruning? I’m no bushmaster though.
Top-Bank2396
I use an electric razor carefully first on the easy bits, but then a hand held disposable razor for the delicate bits. Chaffing only lasts a day or two.
msmaynards
Look into niwaki pruning. You’d be removing dead wood and minor branches so the weird and wonderful branching structure can show off.
Honor them by using natural wood and stones as a border just at their drip line and find other super tough plants with a different growing form/color to add to this. I’d leave space for a path between as greasewoods poison the soil under them.
Investigate the resources at r/NativePlantGardening to find your biome and what plants might work with the greasewood and [https://www.wildflower.org/plants/search.php?search_field=Greasewood&family=Acanthaceae&newsearch=true&demo=](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/search.php?search_field=Greasewood&family=Acanthaceae&newsearch=true&demo=) I’ve no idea which greasewood this is, as you can see there are a number of highly resinous hard scrabble shrubs with that common name.
Reasonable-Ad-4778
I’m just an amateur but you could remove any dead or diseased branches with some nice sharp pruners
KreeH
Maybe water them, then once they have returned to life, prune them but only after they show signs of life. Even then maybe wait a bit, say a year or so before cutting anything.
7 Comments
Seek is correct. These plants only grow in deeply saline/sodic soils, where very few other plants grow. You could trim slightly but they are unlikely to fill in very much. Try deep watering to encourage more growth.
Gasoline and a match
For some reason I find them charming, more TLC and Water? Maybe some mindful pruning? I’m no bushmaster though.
I use an electric razor carefully first on the easy bits, but then a hand held disposable razor for the delicate bits. Chaffing only lasts a day or two.
Look into niwaki pruning. You’d be removing dead wood and minor branches so the weird and wonderful branching structure can show off.
Honor them by using natural wood and stones as a border just at their drip line and find other super tough plants with a different growing form/color to add to this. I’d leave space for a path between as greasewoods poison the soil under them.
Investigate the resources at r/NativePlantGardening to find your biome and what plants might work with the greasewood and [https://www.wildflower.org/plants/search.php?search_field=Greasewood&family=Acanthaceae&newsearch=true&demo=](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/search.php?search_field=Greasewood&family=Acanthaceae&newsearch=true&demo=) I’ve no idea which greasewood this is, as you can see there are a number of highly resinous hard scrabble shrubs with that common name.
I’m just an amateur but you could remove any dead or diseased branches with some nice sharp pruners
Maybe water them, then once they have returned to life, prune them but only after they show signs of life. Even then maybe wait a bit, say a year or so before cutting anything.