A Conversation for Seasonal Gardening Timetable

Pruning shrubs

Post 1

Felonious Monk - h2g2s very own Bogeyman

Many shrubs benefit from a bloody good pruning now. Buddleia daviddii (NOT B. globosa) should be pruned down to about 1/3 its height so you get a good display of flowers. Also, the dogwood (Cornus) can do with being cut back hard around the beginning of the year so you get a good display of showy red stems.


Pruning shrubs

Post 2

Mina

I've done my dogwood. smiley - smiley I've put the bits I cut off into some cuttings compost in the hope I'll get some new plants for autumn. Apparently they propagate really well like that. We'll see.
The buddleia I cannot face just yet. I still have the hedge cuttings from August in the back garden from when the shredder packed in. smiley - sadface I don't need anymore.
Although I'm going to use the big branches to make a 'wigwam' for the sweetpeas. smiley - ok


Pruning shrubs

Post 3

John the gardener says, "Free Tibet!"

In cold climates, it's often best to leave Buddleia davidii alone until spring has established a solid beachhead. They can be a bit sensitive in cold areas, and late frosts can sometimes cause problems.

A number of shrubs benefit from a being cut back in the spring (coppicing) - shrubby willows, potentillas, Sorbaria, etc. - especially where winter kill and snow(plow) damage makes a mess of things. This is a good opportunity to clean up around the plants and put down some fresh mulch, so that you don't have to spend your summer crawling around pulling weeds.


Pruning shrubs

Post 4

Cloviscat

Box should be pruned on Derby Day, you know.

Anybody knopw when Derby Day is?

Temperature notwithstanding (cf John's point), the most important thing about pruning is to DO IT. It's one of the hardest things for a new gardener to do: "I've watched it growing for ages - why do I have to cut it off now?" You *will* get a happier, healthier stronger plant if you give it a trim. Honest. And once you get started, it's hard to stop - just don't end up with a garden like a row of lollipops!


Pruning shrubs

Post 5

Metal Chicken

However, if you have early flowering shrubs like Forsythia, leave them to have their display before you prune them, then cut them back hard to make sure you get lots of new shoots ready to flower for next year.


Pruning shrubs

Post 6

Cloviscat

Let's build proviso on proviso here! smiley - winkeye

The only time to prune before flowering is to save the plant. Don't hesitate, really. If it's a diesease or infection that needs cut out - do it. If the plant is unstable or rocking in the wind - trim it. It's better to lose a season's show than to lose the whole plant entirely.

Cloviscat - who lost the biggest finest loveliest plant in her garden to the high winds on 6 Feb. RIP, smiley - cry


Pruning shrubs

Post 7

John the gardener says, "Free Tibet!"

Sorry about the loss. smiley - sadface

Hmmm... depends on what sort of thing we're talking about, and how many there are of them. I do nearly all of my pruning over the winter, simply because I'm usually busy with something else at other times... or can't be bothered, if I'm to be honest. smiley - winkeye

Every spring I cart away truck loads of forsythia branches, and then weep when I see it being sold for $5 a bundle at the supermarket. One of these times, I'll trim it a sell a few bunches myself. smiley - winkeye

I find that, if it's a mature shrub, taking out a few of the older branches doesn't have much impact on the flower display, especially if the plant is in a good sized border. It's easier to prune for a nice form with the leaves off. Of course, if the plant in question is a prize specimen in the middle of the lawn, I think I'd be inclined to be a little more accomodating.

In any event, I don't like to prune much after August, unless I absolutely have to. Curiously, in each of the last two years, in the last week of August, someone has crashed a car into my shrubs (different beds), forcing me to get the loppers and saw out. smiley - grr

JTG


Pruning shrubs

Post 8

Cloviscat

Oh dear - geese and cars - you're beset with problems!

One thing I do prune midwinter is my apple trees. They're old and venerable, and had a bad woolly aphid infestation when I inherited them. I've managed to get it into check with liberal applications of soapy water from a squirt gun, plus an old tooth brush, but I won't take loppers anywhere near it till the bug is dormant (Thanks Mum, for helpfully 'tidying the shooting branches last August - not!)


Pruning shrubs

Post 9

John the gardener says, "Free Tibet!"

Mmm... nothing burns quite like a nice apple log in the fireplace. And if you happen to sizzle a few woolly aphids... well, it serves them right for moving in without being asked. smiley - smiley


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