Pruning

Pruning is a chore all gardeners must perform. Many folks

avoid it, and results are seldom pretty. There are several

reasons we prune, and many are seasonally dependent.

Flowering is a major consideration. Most spring blooming

shrubs and trees bloom on the previous season’s wood. Examples

are dogwood, azalea, rhododendron, cherry, lilac, forsythia, and

most fruit trees. Some trees like apples and pears flower on

two-year-old wood, so pruning can be a little more complicated.

Except for fruit trees and grapes, most spring blooming trees

and shrubs bloom on the previous season’s growth, and therefore

should not be pruned until they bloom.

Trees and shrubs that bloom on the current season’s growth

usually can be pruned any time. Fall and winter are fine. Vitex,

butterfly bush, abelia, Loropetalum, spiraea, and crape myrtle

are examples of these. Most needled evergreens can be pruned

during the dormant season, and I prefer to prune oak trees then

as well to reduce the spread of oak wilt.

Sometimes plants need to be pruned to change or improve

their form. Sometimes they have simply outgrown their space.

Here it gets tricky. Most deciduous trees and shrubs and many

broadleaved ones may be cut back to a point where there is no

foliage left and still recover. Most needled evergreens cannot

be without killing the plant. Sometimes it is necessary to

perform a renewal pruning, which means cutting the plant down to

the ground or nearly so. If that specimen is a yew, pine, fir,

spruce or similar needled plant, the only option is usually a

truck and a chain or maybe a chainsaw and a stump grinder.

Another reason plants require severe pruning is when they

encounter damage from storms or machinery. Under these

circumstances, it may be necessary to prune at typically the

wrong time of year. That’s the way it goes sometimes.

If a larger tree falls on your favorite dogwood during a

fall hurricane or winter ice storm you might need to remove some

branches and shape other ones to try to restore proper shape.

This would mean sacrificing bloom for a year. Sometimes that is

a small price to pay.

Pruning has some basic rules, like using disinfected tools

to avoid cross-contamination and performing each cut as close to

the top of a bud as possible. Using the appropriate tool can

avoid ragged wounds, which invite disease organisms. In general,

dead wood may be removed any time. It’s already dead.

Proper mowing is the most important management decision to

your lawn. Likewise, proper pruning is arguably the most

important decision to established landscape plants. Proper

watering is the most important task for newly planted trees and

shrubs.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us

via email, phone, or at the nursery and we will do what we can.