Pruning in the Home Landscape

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 18, 2008

The word pruning actually means to cut in layers, and that, is what we should all think about when we are pruning our shrubs.

We prune to make selective cuts, to maintain the natural form of a plant by preventing overgrowth, rubbing branches, to direct future growth. Over-grown plants become straggly, no longer accent the landscape and our homes. Rather than just cutting the limb off to get it out of the way, our cuts should be to remove the branches without leaving a stub or disfiguring the plant.

You can prune to either promote or restrict growth. Proper pruning can create a shrub with its greatest potential for flowering and a full canopy of foliage.

Maintenance pruning is a yearly trimming to remove old, heavy wood, and shaping the remaining new wood. A little pruning every year takes a lot less time than having to go in and try to recover a plant that has not been pruning in several growing seasons. This kind of pruning is also called renewal pruning – you renew the plant over time, never losing the bulk, or flower show. Good examples are Red twig dogwood and Lilacs. By removing the older branches you promote the bright red twigs on dogwood and better flowering on the Lilac (another good tip is to snip of the spent blooms on the lilac back to the first leaves below the flower for a better looking plant the rest of the summer).

If you have a shrub that is too far gone and one that you are able to rejuvenate, you will get a brand new plant that then you can do renewal or maintenance pruning to in the future. Most pruning books list the best way and time to prune our landscape shrubs. Fine textured plants like Spirea and Potentilla are just a copy of examples. Larger shrubs like Lilacs and Red twig Dogwoods are also good candidates. This kind of pruning is most often done in late fall after the plant is dormant for the winter or in early spring before growth resumes.

To rejuvenate a suitable shrub, remove ALL the growth leaving about 1 ½ inch stems showing above the ground.

Many home gardeners get confused as to the best time to prune for fear of pruning off flower buds and as a result never prune at all. Typically if the plant blooms in the early spring, prune soon after the bloom show is complete. That leaves the remaining season for the shrub to create blooms for next year. If you prune too late in the year, you will be removing flower buds for the coming season. . If you look at the buds on a Viburnum or Lilac in the fall of the year for example you will see a big bud at the tip of the branch that is the flower for next year.

If you have a shrub that blooms later in the spring or summer, then that plant blooms on current year wood and you could prune in early spring and still get a bloom show. Spireas are good example.

There are always exceptions to the rule and you should always check your pruning books to be sure of the best time to prune.

If you have the need to slow down a shrubs growth, then "summer pruning" may be in order. By removing some of the foliage that is supplying the food for the plant, next years growth should be less. Don't get carried away as you can put your shrub into shock.

Directional pruning may be another term you will see and read about in your pruning books. This technique allows the person pruning to direct the new growth from the shrub. By pruning just above a bud or smaller side branch, the new growth will occur in the direction of that bud or side branch.

Source: Richard Hentschel, Extension Specialist, Green Industry Programming, hentsche@uiuc.edu