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Gardening Pruning Shrubs
All right, let's talk
about specific plants. I wont cover everything, m fact, I'm going to
steer completely clear of roses. There're so many different kinds of
roses that, accordingly, need different kinds of pruning.
Still, the guidelines below will help with most of your pruning
situations.
Shrubs
Timing. Many shrubs are grown for flowers. But remember that when
they flower determines when you prune. Shrubs that bloom in spring
should not be pruned until after, right after, they bloom.
Otherwise, you'll cut off their flower buds. Summer bloomers can be
trimmed in the dormant, early spring off-season. They'll then have
time to grow new wood for this season's blooms.
Cane shrubs. Ornamental plants, such as forsythia, bamboo,
hydrangea, weigela, nandina, Oregon grape, and kerria, are vigorous
growers that send up new branches from the ground every year. These
guys are tough, you could mow them down to the ground during an
off-season pruning and they'd come back to life. So what you're
generally trying to do is thin these zesty growers out a bit,
cutting any canes: you remove all the way back at the base.
1. First, get rid of any dead wood. (Can't tell if a cane or branch
is live? Scratch it lightly with your fingernail and see if it's
green underneath.)
2. Cut out any canes that cross all the way from one side to the
other of the plant.
3. If it's too crowded in the middle, thin that out some.
4. When a plant's too tall, cut out the tallest canes one by one
until you have it under control. It's OK if it ends up a bit shorter
and smaller than you like. It'll grow, you know.
Mounding shrubs. Small-leaved, thin-stemmed shrubs like barberry,
spirea, Japanese holly, abelia, evergreen azalea, and escallonia are
easy to keep under control. Just start with the longest branch. Cut
it out as far down in the bush as you can reach. Now find the newly
anointed tallest branch and cut it out Repeat until the shrub is a
manageable size. This technique will give a shrub that is smaller
but still has a natural shape.
Treelike shrubs. Be more careful with shrubs like witch hazel,
cotoneaster, rhododendron, camellia, and deciduous azalea, some of
these don't like much cutting. Cut out the dead wood and, if you
can, leave it at that. If more is needed, take out a few crossing
branches and overcrowded ones. But don't cut too much; if a lot of
tall, vertical shoots (water sprouts) come up the next year, you've
overdone it. By Valerie Garner
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