With careful pruning an evergreen can be trained to look great in the landscape. While pruning evergreens one should be cautious. These plants will most likely not die, but they cannot replace lost growth. Evergreens are not as forgiving as deciduous plants. This means evergreens may suffer permanent disfigurement from improper pruning. So make cuts only after thought.

Some evergreens rarely need pruning because of their natural growth habit. Always study the plant before beginning and have a shape in mind. Like other plants, start by removing any dead or damaged wood. Cut back to a limb that is growing the way the branch should go, making sure to cut back into healthy wood. If pruning for a more formal shape, then more frequent pruning will be necessary.

There are many different kinds of evergreen plants and they all are not pruned the say way. Spruce and pine are pruned differently than a juniper. Thinning is a technique used to remove selective growth. This method will not disfigure the plant nor does it stimulate excessive new growth.

Now is a good time to thin evergreens before new growth starts. Shaping cuts can be made later to hold a formal shape. For evergreens that flower in the spring, pruning should be done after bloom.

If one needs to rejuvenate a broad-leaved evergreen which has overgrown, this can be done by pruning several older branches back to ground level. This will stimulate new growth. After a few years there will be a completely new plant.

Fir, pine, and spruce grow in early spring and all their new growth is called "candles." To encourage compact growth cut candles back halfway. Do not cut the shoot tips after needles have developed. This will result in a disfigured plant.

Remember to give your plants plenty of space. One can never keep a plant confined in a space too small for its growth habit. Evergreens offer us many options for our landscape pleasure. Make those pruning cuts with thought and the result will be rewarding.