Is now a good time to prune trees and shrubs or should I wait until later?
Now is a good time to prune some plants, but others should wait until late winter or spring. Spring-flowering shrubs are best pruned in the early summer, shortly after they bloom. They set their flower buds for spring bloom in August. If pruned now, you would remove most of next spring’s flowers. Other than a little light trimming for balance, I would wait until next summer to prune them.
Summer-flowering shrubs like hydrangeas set their flower buds in the spring, so they can be pruned now. I have learned that hydrangeas do best with very little pruning. They do best if you just remove the old dead flower stocks and trim a little for shape.
Wait a month or two to prune roses because they are still growing. I prune hybrid tea and most cut-flower types to about waist height. I prune shrub roses back about a foot.
Evergreens and hedges can be pruned now. All shrubs and hedges should be tapered so the lowest branches are longest and get gradually shorter as you go up the shrub. When lower branches are shaded by upper ones, they gradually lose their leaves and develop what I refer to as “chicken leg appearance.”
If you want to retain the natural shape and thickness of shrubs, they should be pruned one branch at a time. Avoid using shears or power clippers. They prune the tips of many branches at the same time resulting in thick, unnatural growth.
When a branch tip is cut, three or more side branches are produced when regrowth occurs. After pruning three times you have 20 to 30 branches where there was one before. Shearing also leaves a lot of stubs on the surface. I have a leaflet on natural shrub pruning that outlines pruning methods to keep the natural shape and thickness of shrubs. Send me an email request and I will email you a copy.
As trees grow taller, we normally remove some of the lower branches to keep them from getting in the way of our normal activities. Branches should be cut back to their origin or to a side branch. The healing tissue in branches is in a bulging area next to the trunk, referred to as a collar. If this slight bulge is left, the wound heals more quickly.
When tree side branches grow into each other, one of the branches can be removed. Broken branches should normally be cut back to their origin.
