The big Winter cutback Part 2. The idiot son passes chicken care but fails his flying test

Well after all the fun and festivities of Christmas it is time to get on with the big Winter cutback. If you get out into your garden now you will not only lose a few pounds and feel better, but your garden will thank you this summer with lovely refreshed growth.

If you have a large garden then you need to plan your winter cutback over a number of weeks. If you have no other plan, then the simplest way is to start with your smallest plants and work your way up to the really big ones. If you follow what I am doing over the 4 or so stages of my winter cutback then we will cover most common plants in Spain.

I have to admit that my annual winter cutback has been much disrupted by the visit of my idiot son. Cruella (my wife) has been beside herself for weeks preparing for his visit, especially since he will be taking his advanced certificate in chicken care. Under Cruella’s supervision he has been taking exams from The University of Applied Chicken Care – motto: “Sapientia ab Ovo”.

Anyway enough of this nonsense let’s get on with the big winter cutback.

8th January 2026. Things I have been doing lately:

• Reshaping Yucca to improve garden design
• Trimming Sago Palms
• Pruning Solanum
• Reshaping trailing Lantana
• Pruning roses
• Invigilating chicken exams

Reshaping Yucca to improve garden design. If you follow this blog then you will remember that I posted a short while ago about cutting and reshaping Yucca. However, I left one large stand of Yucca out of my last pruning round as I wanted to give more thought to reshaping it.

The area I was contemplating stands at the bottom of my drive and over the years I have created a pleasing combination of: Yucca, Californian False Pepper tree and a large bush Myrtle. Together these present a pleasing vista at the end of the drive. However, they had all become rather ill defined and needed to be brought back into harmony. The photo below shows the problem.

The solution was to reshape the Yucca by cutting it back to different levels. When this regrows – as it will within 6 months it will once more present an attractive integrated perspective. The False Pepper tree will be refreshed by being completely pollarded in about a year. The resultant cutback can be seen in the photos below. Remember, gardening is all about planning for the future – whether you will see it or not. A real gardener plants trees, he will never sit in the shade of.

Trimming Sago Palms. Sago Palms are prized plants in many Spanish gardens. They provide structure, but are slow growing and because of this are very expensive. So if you have one you need to take care of it. I have a number of Sago Palms of various sizes, but the two that need attention are a large multi branch plant in my front garden and a smaller version in a pot. Photos below.

I like to keep these plants relatively tidy, which mainly involves taking off all the fronds apart from the top two rows. It is important that you leave at least two rows to continue nourishing the plant. Also two rows should guarantee that if you lose one, you still have a back up.

To trim Sago Palms I use long handled lopers to get right into the base of the fronds. You also need to wear eye protection and gloves as they can be very spikey. The photos below show my newly trimmed plants.

Pruning Solanum. I have Solanum in many variations in my garden. Some free standing, others are either growing through hedges or climbing up walls. In this case I needed to prune my climber to keep it in shape. At its simplest this involves just getting your hedge trimmer or shears out and trimming the plant back to the wall, whilst at the same time being careful not to cut off any long sinewy runners (it is best to tuck all these in before you start to cut). The photos below show the before and after.

Reshaping trailing Lantana. I love trailing Lantana as its spreading habit provides the perfect setting for island planting into gravelled areas. In Spain too many people turn their gardens into gravel or tiled plant deserts. I understand this as the effort of watering unsuitable plants under a sometimes fierce sun can be disheartening as your garden turns to desert each summer and all your plants die.

Trailing Lantana provides the perfect antidote as they are fully climatised to Spain, need little watering, yet flower profusely all summer providing a green oasis in gravelled areas. I have lots of Lantana in all its forms throughout my garden so when it comes to the big winter cutback they are a relatively easy candidate. The photos below show some of the Lantana that are due a haircut.

You do not need to be fussy when cutting back Lantana. Get your hedge trimmers out and give them a good short back and sides. Once they have been trimmed back, you will start to see re growth within a month and off they go again. The photos below show my newly reshaped Lantana. Note that once I expose the area underneath the plants the chickens quickly move in to mop up any slugs, snails etc. Cruella accused me of exploiting her girls.

Pruning roses. At my house in England I prune roses in the usual way using secateurs and carefully cutting back to an outward facing bud etc. But in Spain I have lots of roses, and over the years have discovered that I do not need to be so delicate. Out come the hedge trimmers again, everything is cut back drastically.

I then leave everything for a week or so before I clear up the dried cuttings and only then do I go around with my secateurs checking for too much dead wood above buds and trimming back. The photos below show some of my roses before and after. And yes, I know that grass is growing under my roses and I am ashamed, but I have lost so much blood over the years trying to remove it that I have now reached a compromise.

Invigilating chicken exams. As I mentioned at the start of this post the idiot son will be taking his advanced certificate in chicken care. Under Cruella’s supervision he has been taking exams from The University of Applied Chicken Care. Cruella has decided that I should be the invigilator for his exams. The photos below show some of his efforts.

Cruella was euphoric at his pass and insisted that he was now ready for basic broom flying lessons. I warned her that this was just too much and should be postponed. But she insisted and the subsequent failure can be seen in the photos below.

He didn’t have the right equipment and he never really got off the ground. He landed on top of my compost bins and broke the lids; I am thinking of suing for damages.