One of the most frequent questions that we get is, “When do we prune X, and how?” We decided to cover this mystery in a dedicated blog post to help make pruning simple. We are currently in the middle of our big summer cutback, which is one of two major pruning events during the year. We typically start one cutback in the early summer, then have one in the fall. We also have a less strenuous pruning event in the winter to cover ornamental grasses, crape myrtles, and roses that were not covered in our fall pruning. We wrote a dedicated post on roses which can be found here and a post on hydrangeas, which can be found here.
Essentially, you factor in what type of plant you have to decide when it gets pruned. Like we stated above, ornamental grasses, liriope, roses, and crape myrtles are all pruned in the winter or early spring right before they break dormancy. Typically all of these plants are grouped in one pruning, but perennials that need to be cut back before the spring flush can be included at this time if they haven’t yet been taken care of.
Winter is a great time to prune deciduous trees and shrubs. Since they are dormant, you minimize the chance that the cuts will be infected by a pest or disease and since they have lost their leaves it’s easy to see the structure of the plant to decide how you want to shape it up. Be wary of pruning evergreen plants at this time, however; if you prune close to a cold snap this can leave the plant open to frost damage. Of course, the general rule of thumb is that at any time you can prune plant material that is diseased or damaged, so don’t be afraid to remove limbs that were snapped in an ice storm.
Now we are in the season of summer pruning. In general, this pruning session will focus on evergreens after they have put out their first flush of summer growth and that growth has had a chance to harden off. If plants are pruned as soon as new growth emerges, they will just continue to flush out with new growth instead of remaining where the pruning cut was made. Gardenias can be pruned before they flower, but you will want to wait until after azaleas bloom for their turn. Currently we will be pruning these plants as well as boxwoods, hollies, camellias, and other evergreens that need a good shaping.
If you are interested in having pruning done on your property or if you would like options for a yearly pruning contract, please e-mail us at info@larmorelandscape.com or give us a call at 336-765-6340!
Photo Credit: From our Pinterest board “Boxwood Gardens”
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