Xela's Garden

remove the old shoots that die back after flowering, or cut out all the flowered branches as they fade, leaving room for the elegant new wands that will bear next year's flowers. You can be quite brutal; whether you cut it as low as the new shoots, or right down to the ground, it doesn't seem to mind.

a piece of wandering root or take cuttings at the end of the summer and put them in a sandy trench outdoors. The stems are hollow, so cut immediately below a leaf node where there should be pith in the shoot. If you fail to find any solid stem, you can always seal the end carefully with hot candle wax. This works as long as you dip the shoot quickly and then wait for the wax to dry before putting the cutting in.

remove the old shoots that die back after flowering, or cut out all the flowered branches as they fade, leaving room for the elegant new wands that will bear next year's flowers. You can be quite brutal; whether you cut it as low as the new shoots, or right down to the ground, it doesn't seem to mind.

Prune in late-spring after flowering removing one in three stems to ground level. Cut back the remaining flowered stems to different levels to encourage flowering shoots at different heights. Apply a 5cm - 7cm (2in - 3in) mulch around the base of the plant.